| Summary: | Boat strikes on sea turtles often cause injuries and tend to leave markings, wounds, or
often cause direct mortality to sea turtles. However, there were no publications
regarding boat strikes on sea turtles in Asian countries. The current study is limited to
investigating the number of surviving sea turtles after the boat strike incidents. The
objective of this study is to identify boat strike incidents as a threat to the resident sea
turtles in Mabul Island, Semporna. Green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill
(Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles in Mabul Island were captured using the Johnny and
Subuh (JS) method. From March 2013 to November 2014, 217 individual sea turtles
were captured for data collection. Green turtles consisted of 198 individuals and 19
individuals were hawksbill turtles. There were 45 green turtles found with injuries that
were caused by boat strikes, bites, fishing gear entanglements, barnacle scar, and
unknown causes. There was only one hawksbill turtle found with bite injuries, while no
injuries were found In other captured hawksbill turtles. The number of bite marks and
boat strike injuries on green turtles were significantly higher than injuries of other
causes (chi-square = 23.130, df = 4, p<0.01). From the different types of boat strike
injuries, the dominant type of injuries were the straight cut wounds (68%, N = 15),
followed by parallel cut wounds (14%, N = 3), blunt force wounds (9%, N = 2), and
deep incised wounds (9%, N = 2). In terms of severity of boat strike injuries, the
number of rank 2 severity injuries were Significantly higher
than other injuries (chisquare
= 14.545, df = 5, P = 0.012, N = 9). The results of the current study showed
that sea turtles foraging in Mabul Island are susceptible to the collision with boats. It
is recommended that the speed of boats is regulated to reduce the rate of boat strike
incidents on sea turtles.
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