Ba Ria - Vung Tau (VNA) – The sea turtle nestingseason has started at the Con Dao National Park, the first in Vietnam to have successfully carried out a turtle conservation programme.

The waters surrounding Con Dao archipelago, off the southernprovince of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, record four turtle species, namely the green seaturtle (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), oliveridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), and loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta).

The number of green sea turtles laying eggs in Con Dao is thebiggest in Vietnam. Eighteen of the park’s beaches are nesting grounds coveringabout 24ha, and five of them have seen over 150 turtle arrivals coming to layeggs annually – Bai Cat Lon and Bai Duong on Bay Canh Island, Cau Island, TaiIsland, and Tre Lon Island.

All the species are currently on the brink of extinction andhave been named in the Vietnam Red Data Book and the world’s list of threatenedspecies. The country prohibits any hunting, catching, trading, transporting, orusing the reptile and related products.

Studiesby the park’s division for conservation and international cooperation show that the green sea turtle, about 93cm long, 84cm wideand 90kg in weight, nests all year round, with the peak season from May toOctober.

In thefirst four months of 2023, sea turtles have dug 50 nests to lay eggs in thepark. Meanwhile, 134 nests, including those created in late 2022, have hatched. The forest protection force, volunteers, and tourists have releasedmore than 8,000 baby turtles into the sea so far this year.

From1993 to 2022, 11,643 turtles came to the park’sbeaches to lay eggs. As many as 31,400 nests with 2,898,640 eggs were saved andsuccessfully hatched while 2,238,597 baby turtles were released to the nature.The rate of hatched and released animals surpassed 80%, according to statisticsof the Con Dao National Park.

The parkhas attached tracking devices to 10 mother animals. Results show that the green sea turtles laying eggs in Con Dao travel to searchfor food in the waters off Phu Quy and Truong Sa (Spratly) of Vietnam, Palawanprovince of the Philippines, Sihanoukville city of Cambodia, Pahang state ofMalaysia, and the Natuna Islands of Indonesia.

It has also attached tracking tags to over 5,750 turtleslaying eggs in Con Dao to monitor their behaviours and morphology. Findings showthat each individual digs three nests each breeding season and return to ConDao to lay eggs every three years. Each nest contains about 90 eggs which willhatch after about 55 days.

Here inthe park, the forest protection force goes on patrol to protect the 18 nestingbeaches every night, when turtles often come to lay eggs. They have also cleanedthe beaches regularly to create conditions for nesting.

After beinglaid, all the eggs will be moved to a designated site to avoid adverse humanand natural impacts and ensure a high hatching rate.

The Con Dao National Park was the first place inVietnam to have successfully carried out a sea turtle conservation programme. Itrecords about 450 coming to lay eggs and over 150,000 baby animals released tothe wild each year.

In January 2009, it was recognised as the place hatching andreleasing the biggest number of baby turtles to the sea in Vietnam./.