SEMPORNA: Professional divers here are hoping that researchers will use other “less damaging” methods to conduct studies on turtles at Mabul island off Semporna waters here.
Semporna Professional Divers Association deputy president Dahlan Maizin said the group had found that the said researchers' data collection techniques on turtles were hazardous to the species.
“One of us had taken part in the research work few years ago and took a video of the process.
“The footage showed a group of divers taking those turtles from water to surface (to be tagged on the boat) using a lift bag.
“For human, when they go diving, it is life threatening to shoot up to water surface from underneath due to the effects of drastic change in pressure to body functions. It could be the same for those turtles,” he said, adding that normally any marine animals would be stressful to be outside the water for too long.
Dahlan said they posted the old video on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Semporna-Professional-Divers-Association-SPDA-390729358...) as recently there was also similar study being held at the same place and similar destructive method was applied to the species.
Having been diving for almost 10 years in Mabul, Dahlan also noticed that turtles at the dive sites are no longer as “friendly” to divers as they used to be.
“Unlike those researchers who do their studies twice a year, they might not aware of behavioural changes to those turtles.
“For us who dive everyday here, those turtles swim away from human being and there are not many of them as before,” he said, hoping that in future, divers put to task on collecting data to be given proper training in handling wildlife.
The association’s concern is backed up by Marine Research Foundation executive director Dr Nicolas J Pilche who described using lift bag is fatal for the turtles.
“There are plenty evidence and scientific literature that pointing the method causes decompression sickness whereby the ‘bubbles’ or gas could not be released from the body.
“My suggestion is as easy as to bring the turtles slowly to surface so they will not get the bends,” said the scientist who has been working on the species for 30 years.
Meanwhile, Sabah Wildlife director Augustine Tuuga also agreed that every few days, there are turtles dying around Mabul waters.
“They died due to boat propellers for water activities such as jet ski, parasailing and diving.”