An endangered green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) has been released to the sea after being captured and kept at a house in Da Nang, a source from the city’s sub-department of Aquatic Resource Protection said yesterday.

An endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas) was released to the sea in Da Nang. — Photo courtesy Da Nang Agriculture and Rural Development Department.

The source said the turtle, which had been kept in an aquarium belonging to a family in the Son Tra Peninsula, was healthy when it swam back to the ocean.

The sub-department said the green turtle was listed as an endangered species by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The Red Book of Viet Nam also named the turtle as a threatened species in need of special protection.

In July, the sub-department released another sea turtle after it was caught in a fishing net.

According to Mr Le Xuan Ai, an expert in sea turtle conservation from the Cham Island’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) management board, several beaches in central coastal Viet Nam, including Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai are popular destinations for turtle reproduction. But rapid urban development, the speedy construction of beach resorts and hotels, the overexploitation of seafood and extensive pollution had destroyed their habitats.

The Cham Island, off the coast of Quang Nam Province, was the first location in central Viet Nam to begin a sea turtle conservation project by hatching eggs to repopulate local turtle populations.

Viet Nam has 5 species of sea turtles living in waters off the islands of Truong Sa (Spratly), Hoang Sa (Paracels), Bach Long Vy, Tho Chu and Co To and provinces of Quang Ninh and Quang Tri, and from Quang Nam to Phu Yen. 

(Source: VNS/ DA NANG Today)