DUNGUN, Sept 22 2026 — A leatherback turtle came ashore at Pantai Kuala Abang here in the early hours of Tuesday and laid 70 eggs, marking the third recorded landing of the world’s largest sea turtle species on Terengganu beaches this month.
Terengganu Fisheries Department director Pang Nyukang said a licensed turtle egg collector found the female nesting at about 2am. The turtle returned to the sea at about 5.30am after completing the nest.
“The mother turtle measured 2.15 metres in length and 1.15 metres in width,” he said in a statement today.
Fisheries officers collected the clutch at 6am and moved the eggs to the hatchery at the Turtle Conservation Centre in Rantau Abang, near here.
“The leatherback eggs being incubated are expected to hatch within 50 to 70 days,” Pang said.
He did not rule out the possibility that the same turtle nested at Pantai Pasir Putih in Marang on Sept 1 and at Pantai Rantau Abang on Sept 13. Those earlier landings produced 44 and 81 eggs respectively.
Leatherback landings in Terengganu had last been recorded in 2017. Pang said the three nestings this month are an important development in efforts to conserve the species in the state.
The Department of Fisheries, through the Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre (TCIC) in Rantau Abang, has transferred a total of 195 eggs from the three September landings to protected incubation sites.
Leatherback hatchlings at a Terengganu nesting beach. Eggs collected at Kuala Abang are expected to hatch in 50 to 70 days.
The Turtle Conservation Centre in Rantau Abang, where the 70 eggs from Tuesday’s landing are being incubated.
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