The Marine National Park Headquarters (hereinafter referred to as the Headquarters), together with the Dongsha Patrol Command of the Southern Coastal Patrol Office, Coast Guard Administration (hereinafter referred to as the Dongsha Command), discovered at approximately 00:00 on August 23, 2011, that an endangered Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) had returned to Dongsha Island in Dongsha Atoll National Park to lay eggs. This marks the first official record of sea turtle nesting since the establishment of Dongsha Atoll National Park in 2007.
According to the Headquarters, the Green Sea Turtle was spotted by patrol personnel of the Dongsha Command while it was coming ashore to lay eggs late at night. The incident was immediately reported to conservation staff at the Dongsha Management Station for observation and documentation. Measurements showed that the turtle had a carapace length of 105 cm and was estimated to weigh over 100 kg. The turtle was large and robust, and after completing the nesting process—lasting approximately one hour—it returned to the sea.
Dongsha Island is located in the northern South China Sea and features extensive, undisturbed sandy beaches. The surrounding waters of Dongsha Atoll provide vast seagrass beds and coral reefs that serve as feeding and resting grounds for sea turtles. Under such favorable environmental conditions, Dongsha Island is an ideal nesting site for sea turtles. However, over the past several decades, foreign fishing vessels frequently exploited marine resources using improper fishing methods and hunted large numbers of sea turtles, resulting in very few recorded sightings of turtles coming ashore. Only in 2003 were there two sightings by the Dongsha Command—one of a female turtle nesting and another of turtle crawl tracks on the beach—though neither resulted in formal documentation.
The Headquarters noted that the Green Sea Turtle is a large marine turtle widely distributed in temperate to tropical waters around the world. In Taiwan, it is listed as an endangered protected species due to severe survival threats. Currently, nesting records in Taiwan are limited to Penghu, Lanyu, Xiaoliuqiu, and Taiping Island, while nesting on Taiwan’s main island has become rare in recent years.
Since the establishment of Dongsha Atoll National Park, the Headquarters has worked closely with the Dongsha Command to expel illegal fishing vessels and protect Dongsha Island’s terrestrial environment. This nesting record is therefore extremely valuable. As Green Sea Turtles can lay between one and seven clutches of eggs during a single nesting season, it remains possible that the same turtle may return again this season. Continued monitoring and protection of the nesting site and the nesting female will therefore be carried out.
The Green Sea Turtle faces survival threats worldwide and is a species of major global conservation concern. This discovery of a Green Sea Turtle returning to Dongsha Island to nest, following the first recorded mass coral spawning event in Dongsha waters in May of the same year, represents another successful conservation milestone. It demonstrates that conservation efforts in Dongsha Atoll National Park in recent years are gradually yielding positive results. The Headquarters will continue to collaborate with the Dongsha Command to promote ecological conservation, with the aim of making Dongsha Atoll National Park a model for biodiversity conservation in the South China Sea.
According to the Headquarters, the Green Sea Turtle was spotted by patrol personnel of the Dongsha Command while it was coming ashore to lay eggs late at night. The incident was immediately reported to conservation staff at the Dongsha Management Station for observation and documentation. Measurements showed that the turtle had a carapace length of 105 cm and was estimated to weigh over 100 kg. The turtle was large and robust, and after completing the nesting process—lasting approximately one hour—it returned to the sea.
Dongsha Island is located in the northern South China Sea and features extensive, undisturbed sandy beaches. The surrounding waters of Dongsha Atoll provide vast seagrass beds and coral reefs that serve as feeding and resting grounds for sea turtles. Under such favorable environmental conditions, Dongsha Island is an ideal nesting site for sea turtles. However, over the past several decades, foreign fishing vessels frequently exploited marine resources using improper fishing methods and hunted large numbers of sea turtles, resulting in very few recorded sightings of turtles coming ashore. Only in 2003 were there two sightings by the Dongsha Command—one of a female turtle nesting and another of turtle crawl tracks on the beach—though neither resulted in formal documentation.
The Headquarters noted that the Green Sea Turtle is a large marine turtle widely distributed in temperate to tropical waters around the world. In Taiwan, it is listed as an endangered protected species due to severe survival threats. Currently, nesting records in Taiwan are limited to Penghu, Lanyu, Xiaoliuqiu, and Taiping Island, while nesting on Taiwan’s main island has become rare in recent years.
Since the establishment of Dongsha Atoll National Park, the Headquarters has worked closely with the Dongsha Command to expel illegal fishing vessels and protect Dongsha Island’s terrestrial environment. This nesting record is therefore extremely valuable. As Green Sea Turtles can lay between one and seven clutches of eggs during a single nesting season, it remains possible that the same turtle may return again this season. Continued monitoring and protection of the nesting site and the nesting female will therefore be carried out.
The Green Sea Turtle faces survival threats worldwide and is a species of major global conservation concern. This discovery of a Green Sea Turtle returning to Dongsha Island to nest, following the first recorded mass coral spawning event in Dongsha waters in May of the same year, represents another successful conservation milestone. It demonstrates that conservation efforts in Dongsha Atoll National Park in recent years are gradually yielding positive results. The Headquarters will continue to collaborate with the Dongsha Command to promote ecological conservation, with the aim of making Dongsha Atoll National Park a model for biodiversity conservation in the South China Sea.
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