TABUNG Hidupan Liar Sedunia (WWF) Malaysia cawangan Terengganu menggesa kerajaan meminda Akta Perikanan 1985 secepat mungkin bagi mengharamkan aktiviti memakan telur penyu di seluruh negara.
Ketua Program Pemuliharaan Penyu WWF Terengganu, Rahayu Zulkifli berkata sehingga kini telur penyu masih dijual secara berleluasa di negeri ini walaupun sedia maklum haiwan itu diancam kepupusan.
"WWF bimbang seandainya kerajaan lewat mengharamkannya, penyu mungkin akan pupus kerana jumlah pendaratan empat spesis penyu iaitu penyu belimbing, penyu karah, penyu agar dan penyu lipas di perairan pantai Terengganu semakin berkurangan.
"Setakat ini, hanya telur penyu belimbing sahaja sudah diharamkan, namun WWF mahu pengharaman memakan telur penyu ini meliputi semua spesis," katanya kepada Bernama di sini, hari ini.
Sehingga kini, telur penyu masih boleh didapati dengan mudah terutama di Pasar Payang yang menjadi tumpuan pelancong.
Malah, ia menjadi bualan mulut di kalangan pelancong yang teringin merasai keenakan telur penyu itu supaya datang ke Terengganu kerana ia boleh dibeli dengan mudah, berbanding Sabah atau Sarawak kerana kedua-dua negeri itu telah mengharamkan penjualan dan memakan telur penyu.
Rahayu turut meminta pihak berkuasa agama Islam supaya mencari nas atau dalil yang sahih untuk mengharamkan manusia memakan telur penyu dari pelbagai aspek.
"Saya pernah berjumpa seorang imam yang mengatakan haram untuk manusia makan telur penyu kerana kita tahu haiwan itu sangat kritikal dan boleh pupus bila-bila masa.
"Kami sebagai pencinta hidupan berharap perkara ini dapat dihuraikan dengan lebih lanjut oleh pihak berkuasa bagi membolehkan akta sedia ada dipinda segera," katanya.
Pada tahun lepas, Malaysia telah menandatangani perjanjian persefahaman (MoU) pengurusan dan pemuliharaan penyu rantau Lautan Hindi dan Asia Tenggara (IOSEA) yang bertujuan melindungi spesies terancam itu, tapi tiada tindakan susulan dilakukan.
WWF juga telah menyerahkan memorandum yang mempunyai fakta kukuh mengenai betapa pentingnya pengharaman penjualan dan memakan telur penyu kepada kerajaan tahun lepas. (Bernama)
penyu kini makin pupus, pengharaman tersebut adalah bagi memastikan spesies penyu tidak pupus.
ReplyDeleteJika tidak ada kawalan menyenai telur penyu ini, maka ini akan menyebabkan kepupusan terhadap haiwan ini pada akan datang.
ReplyDeletekalau tidak silap, penjualan dan memakan telur penyu di Sabah telahpun diharamkan oleh kerajaan negeri..
ReplyDeleteIn February 2011, the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group published a report about the top 25 species of turtles most likely to become extinct, with a further 40 species at very high risk of becoming extinct.
ReplyDeleteThis list excludes sea turtles, however both the leatherback and the Kemp's ridley would make the top 25 list.
ReplyDeleteThe report is due to be updated in four years time allowing to follow the evolution of the list. Between 48 to 54% of all 328 of their species considered threatened, turtles and tortoises are at a much higher risk of extinction than many other vertebrates.
ReplyDeleteOf the 263 species of freshwater and terrestrial turtles, 117 species are considered Threatened, 73 are either Endangered or Critically Endangered and 1 is Extinct.
ReplyDeleteOf the 58 species belonging to the Testudinidae family, 33 species are Threatened, 18 are either Endangered or Critically Endangered, 1 is Extinct in the wild and 7 species are Extinct. 71% of all tortoise species are either gone or almost gone. Asian species are the most endangered, closely followed by the five endemic species from Madagascar.
ReplyDeleteTurtles face many threats, including habitat destruction, harvesting for consumption and pet trade. The high extinction risk for Asian species is primarily due to the long-term unsustainable exploitation of turtles and tortoises for consumption and traditional Chinese medicine, and to a lesser extent for the international pet trade.
ReplyDeleteEfforts have been made by Chinese entrepreneurs to satisfy increasing demand for turtle meat as gourmet food and traditional medicine with farmed turtles, instead of wild-caught ones; according to a study published in 2007, over a thousand turtle farms operated in China.
ReplyDeleteico.
Turtle farms in Oklahoma and Louisiana raise turtles for export to China as well. Turtles on tree branch over a lake in New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, wild turtles continue to be caught and sent to market in large number (as well as to turtle farms, to be used as breeding stock), resulting in a situation described by conservationists as "the Asian turtle crisis".
ReplyDeleteIn the words of the biologist George Amato, "the amount and the volume of captured turtles... vacuumed up entire species from areas in Southeast Asia", even as biologists still did not know how many distinct turtle species live in the region.
ReplyDeleteAbout 75% of Asia's 90 tortoise and freshwater turtle species are estimated to have become threatened.
ReplyDeleteHarvesting wild turtles is legal in a number of states in the USA.In one of these states, Florida, just a single seafood company in Fort Lauderdale was reported in 2008 as buying about 5,000 pounds of softshell turtles a week.
ReplyDeleteThe harvesters (hunters) are paid about $2 a pound; some manage to catch as many as 30–40 turtles (500 pounds) on a good day.
Some of the catch gets to the local restaurants, while most of it is exported to Asia. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimated in 2008 that around 3,000 pounds of softshell turtles were exported each week via Tampa International Airport.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, the great majority of turtles exported from the USA are farm raised. According to one estimate by the World Chelonian Trust, about 97% of 31.8 million animals harvested in the U.S. over a three-year period (November 4, 2002 – November 26, 2005) were exported.
ReplyDeleteIt has been estimated (presumably, over the same 2002–2005 period) that about 47% of the US turtle exports go to People's Republic of China (predominantly to Hong Kong), another 20% to Taiwan, and 11% to Mexico.
ReplyDelete