KEMAMAN – As the saying goes, “do good to feel good”, and angler Mahadi Mat, 42, said helping to remove a fish hook from a green sea turtle (penyu agar) that swam up to him in Kuala Kertih recently gave him a boost.
He said that the turtle paid him a surprise visit around 6.50pm yesterday while he was fishing at a popular spot for anglers accompanied by his wife, Rohayati Yusof, 32.
“This is the first time I’m seeing a turtle while fishing. It made me so happy. But when it got closer, I saw that there was a fish hook in its mouth.
“So I picked up the turtle and removed the hook. The other anglers told me to release it into the sea away from the river confluence where there are a lot of rocks,” he said, while adding that it weighed around 10kg and didn’t seem to have other injuries.
The video of the ice delivery driver’s act of kindness towards a threatened species which was shared on Facebook has gone viral and won praise from netizens.
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) Institute of Oceanography and Environment (INOS) field research laboratory head, Dr Mohd Uzair Rusli, said the time has come to invite recreational anglers to become partners in the conservation of turtles.
“Anglers are often seen fishing from the shore or on the sea, so knowing turtle first aid is really important. What the angler in Kuala Kertih did is good because it shows environmental awareness and should be emulated,” he said.
