Satellite Tracks from Post-Nesting Hawksbill Turtles from Malacca
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Annex I: Satellite Tracks from post-nesting hawksbill turtles from Malacca 16 17 18 19 Annex II: Photographs of impacts to nesting beaches in Malacca. Restaurant located adjacent to the beach, resulting in Recreation facilities blocking access to the beach above lack of access and light pollution. high tide to nesting turtles. Fishing boats and discarded nets above the high tide Sea walls to limit erosion also change sand deposition line, which could inhibit nesting. rates and alter nearshore currents. A local house being built right on the high tide line, Logs and other natural accumulated debris on a beach limiting beach access. limiting access to nesting areas. 20 Assessment of potential impacts of the Proposed Kuala Linggi International Port (KLIP project) on marine turtles. Nicolas J Pilcher, PhD. Marine Research Foundation A. Summary of the Proposed Project Linggi Base Sdn. Bhd. (the project proponent) plans to develop the Kuala Linggi International Port (KLIP)at Kuala Linggi, Malacca, Malaysia in four Phases. The proposed KLIP development will be an expansion of the existing Sungai Linggi Port and will increase the Port capacity to meet future maritime services needs. The KLIP will comprise access bridge (800 m in length), liquid products jetty (1.3 km in length) and onshore developments comprising of liquid product storage terminal, shipyard, fabrication yard, general cargo wharf, administration and support services, and government reserve area. The proposed port will be developed over four phases, culminating in a reclaimed area of ~620 ac, with a total length of 3.8 km and a maximum width of 2.55 km and capital dredging involving volume of 3 million m3. The proposed reclaimed land development will lie southwest of the Sungai Linggi estuary, and south of the Malacca – Negeri Sembilan state border, and at its nearest point will lie approximately 300 m from the shoreline. The proposed development will be connected to the mainland via a bridge, and when completed will leave a shallow channel (-0.5m to -2m below chart datum) oriented NNW to SSE, with an average width of ~350m. The mainland shoreline of this channel presently hosts one of Malacca’s marine turtle nesting beaches, namely Kuala Linggi beach. A total of 17 additional beaches are located along the Malacca coastline, southeasterly to Pulau Burung / Lalang (Figure 1), of which four (Kuala Linggi, Tg. Serai, Mariam Patah and Tg. Dahan) lie closest (within 5km) to zones of potential impacts from salinity and sedimentation, wave heights and current speeds, and pollution from treated wastewater discharges from the proposed development. In addition there are anecdotal reports of nesting on Negeri Sembilan beaches located between the proposed project site and Tg Tuan, although there has been no systematic collection of nesting data for these beaches, and numbers are considered to be low in comparison with Malacca beaches given the lack of reporting. Nesting is reported for eight beaches in Negeri Sembilan: Pasir Panjang, Eagle Ranch, Kg. Tg. Pelanduk, Pantai UPM Teluk Kemang, Pantai Batu Empat, Blue Lagoon, Pantain Cermin and Tg Tuan (Fig. 2). Given the dearth of information on these beaches, and the lack of knowledge on their extent or significance to hawksbill turtles, and particularly as the lack of systematic reporting is suggestive of low and random nesting, these beaches are only provided a cursory overview in this risk assessment. 21 Figure 1: Location of key nesting sites in the State of Malacca, along with the proposed development. 22 Figure 2: Location of key nesting sites in the State of Negeri Sembilan, along with the proposed development. B. Marine Turtles in the Vicinity of the Proposed Project The State of Malacca hosts one of Malaysia’s most significant hawksbill sea turtle nesting assemblages, recording some 350 to 600 nests per year (data available for 2006 to 2014; Source: DOF Malacca, unpublished data). This is far in excess of the ~20 nests per year on Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Chan & Liew, 1999) and similar numbers in Sarawak (Leh 1985), but comparable in size in Malaysia only to the ~500 nests per year on Pulau Gulisaan, Sabah (Pilcher & Ali, 1999). These are the only other hawksbill nesting sites in Malaysia. Closest to the proposed development, Kuala Linggi beach supports an average of 4.55 hawksbill nests per year (2006-2014), with a maximum of 10 recorded in 2006 (DOF Malacca, unpublished data). This nesting represents approximately 1% of all nesting along the Malacca coast since 2006, and ranged from a low of 0% in 2007 and 2008 to a high of 2.56% in 2006. A breakdown of the annual nesting and proportion represented by Kuala Linggi beach is provided in Table I. 23 Table I: Numbers and proportions of hawksbill turtles utilizing Kuala Linggi beach and the four key beaches (Kuala Linggi to Tg. Dahan), in comparison with total nesting numbers for the State of Malacca 2006-2014. Kuala Linggi Beach Kuala Lunggi - Tg. Dahan Total Nests % Nests % Nests 2006 10 2.56% 111 28.46% 390 2007 0 0.00% 74 19.68% 376 2008 0 0.00% 87 18.47% 471 2009 2 0.53% 55 14.47% 380 2010 9 2.24% 61 15.17% 402 2011 2 0.35% 102 17.96% 568 2012 4 1.13% 87 24.65% 353 2013 2 0.43% 107 22.77% 470 2014 12 2.75% 144 33.03% 436 Three additional beaches from Malacca lie within close proximity (5km) of the proposed development, and within reach of potential impacts as provided in the hydraulic modeling Study (Tg. Serai, Meriam Patah and Tg. Dahan). These beaches host an average of ~8%, ~6% and ~7% of all nesting respectively and these four beaches, and combined they represent some 22% of all hawksbill turtle nesting along the Malacca coast. The overall proportion of nesting on these four beaches, which lie within range of potential impacts as assessed by the hydraulic modeling study, has ranged from a minimum of 14.47% in 2009 to a high of 33.02% in 2014. There appears to be a slight but steady increase in the proportion of turtles utilizing these beaches since 2009 (black line, Figure 2), possibly as a result of increased development along southern key nesting beaches (in particular offshore of Malacca city itself, where land reclamation development has encroached significantly on waters in the vicinity of Pulau Upeh (see Figure 1). Overall numbers of nests across the entire State do not appear to be increasing in a similar manner as the proportion of nesters in the northern beaches (blue line, Figure 2). A breakdown of the annual nesting and proportion represented by turtles on these four northernmost beaches is also provided in Table I. One beach in Negeri Sembilan, to the north of the proposed development, lies within the 5km radius of potential impacts (Pasir Panjang), but there is no data aavailable on nesting numbers and trends. In addition to utilization of beaches for nesting, hawksbill sea turtles also use Malacca’s and Negeri Sembilan’s nearshore waters as internesting areas (the two-week periods between laying eggs within a season) with several core areas extending southeastwards from Tg. Serai to the Malacca / Johor border, and extending offshore ~10km from Tg. Bidara and ~20km from Pulau Upeh (Figure 3). Core areas used by hawksbills in Malacca and Negeri Sembilan extend over some 480 sq. km of marine habitat, and in the northern range the core areas overlap with soft coral areas in the vicinity of the proposed development. However, it is unlikely that these core areas represent foraging grounds, as these turtles forage in waters south of Singapore (WWF Malaysia / DOFM, unpublished data). 24 600 35% 30% 500 25% 400 20% 300 15% 200 10% 100 5% Total Number of nests / year (blue line) (blue nests / year of Total Number y = 0.0072x + 0.1802 R² = 0.102 (black line) beaches northern four on the nests % of 0 0% 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 FigureMap 2: Trend 3. Hom in proportione range of of Hawksbills hawksbill turtles duri nutilizingg inter-nes the fourting key per beachesiod in Me in Malaccalaka (Kuala Linggi to Tg. Dahan) within reach of potential impacts as described by the hydraulic modeling study. Formula describes trend function. Figure 3: Density analysis of habitat use for Malacca hawksbill turtles during the internesting period. Graphic courtesy of WWF-Malaysia. 25 5 C. Risk assessment of impacts to marine turtles by the proposed KLIP project This section commences with a list describing the generic impacts from coastal development projects such as the proposed KLIP project on marine turtles (D), and which addresses impacts to the turtles themselves, and to their habitats (nesting, foraging, migration and critical areas). In subsequent sections (E) we address those impacts specific to the proposed KLIP project, and further consider the residual impacts of each of these following a rigorous risk assessment (F), which evaluates both the likelihood of the impact occurring based on a range of frequencies of potential environmental effects of the project, and the level of severity for the consequence or impact (that is, the varying levels of consequence that would result in environmental effects which would be adverse to sea turtles) based on specific consideration categories used to characterise adverse environmental effects and consequences related to environmental impacts. Specific probability levels are defined for each aspect of the project activities based on expert knowledge on the biology and ecology of the species, past practices, statistical data, local conditions and specific prevention and mitigation measures. D. Summary of potential impacts to marine turtles by coastal development projects Turtles face a multitude of threats worldwide.