PHUKET, Jan 10 – Officials of the Sirinat National Park collected about 100 leatherback sea turtle eggs from Naithon beach for incubation.
PraropPlaengngan, chief of the Phuket Marine National Park and Protected Areas Innovation Center, said the collection followed a report from a village headman that a leatherback sea turtle laid eggs on the beach in the morning. Inspecting the scene, park officials assumed a leatherback sea turtle laid eggs there at about 6am.
Of the eggs collected from one pit, 92 were fertilized and 19 others were unfertilized, MrPrarop said.
Officials moved the eggs from their original pit near a community to Nai Yang beach in front of the office of the Sirinat National Park for better protection. They will take turns to guard the new pit. MrPrarop expected baby sea turtles would hatch out in 55-60 days.
The southern coastline from Ranong province to Phuket was the natural egg-laying grounds of leatherback sea turtles, he said.
