SANDAKAN – In an effort to ensure a clean beach for turtle landings, Friends of Sea Turtles Education and Research (Foster) president Alexander Yee launched the group’s seventh annual community beach cleaning initiative on Pulau Libaran on Friday.
Unlike a typical beach cleaning activity, Yee had prepared the perfect system for a one-kilometre stretch of shoreline on Libaran, where about three to 12 female turtles land to lay eggs each month.
The idea is to find sponsors to fund for RM1,200 per lot, with each lot covering 100m of beach, and the payment will go to appointed villagers of Kg Pulau Libaran to clean each lot for 12 months.
Despite the pandemic and losing sponsors from struggling tourism companies, Yee said the programme has managed to receive support from other sponsors, including AquaGoat Finance, a cryptocurrency firm based in the United States.
In fact, the programme managed to secure full sponsorship this year with 12 sponsored slots.
“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, fundraising from our traditional tourism-based companies have been impossible since all of these companies have been severely affected by the pandemic. I was getting worried as the work of sea turtle conservation depended very much on having a clean shoreline.
“Just two months prior to this launch, we received great news from AquaGoat Finance in the US that they will be adopting five lots (500m) for the next twelve months and later on, the Tourism Arts and Culture Ministry, Tourism Malaysia, and the Sabah Tourism Board renewed their sponsorships and continued to be on board as well,” Yee said during the launch.
Meanwhile, newly appointed Sabah director of Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Mohd Faharuddin Hatmin, who was also present during the event, said the board is aware of the good work Foster has been doing in Libaran and was happy to include them under in its corporate social responsibility/volunteerism tourism activities promotion.
“I am glad that Foster is launching yet another edition of the community cleaning and that we can play a part in this initiative.
“The community beach cleaning not only brings extra income to villagers, it also ensures a clean beach for the village,” he said.
Foster has been collaborating with Sabah Wildlife Department to manage a turtle hatchery on Libaran since 2012.
The programme includes creating awareness for the locals and visitors on the conservation value of sea turtles, undertaking research projects with the goal of better understanding the life cycle of sea turtles surrounding the Libaran island area, and making research programmes on sea turtles available for international and local students.
The five-year memorandum of understanding between Foster and the Sabah Wildlife Department was extended in August 2018. – The Vibes, July 25, 2021
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