On the moonlit beaches of Terengganu state, on Malaysia’s east coast, green sea turtles have been returning for generations to lay their eggs. For just as long, people have collected, sold and eaten the eggs as a delicacy, supporting coastal livelihoods but stressing turtle populations. As a conservation compromise to balance livelihoods and turtle protection, the state’s Department of Fisheries (DoF) introduced a licensing system in 1951, auctioning rights to harvest eggs from designated beaches. In 1961, it added a buyback scheme, paying licensed collectors to hand over eggs for relocation to protected hatcheries. With limited resources, the DoF partnered with NGOs like Marine Conservation and Research Organisation Malaysia (PULIHARA), which has run buyback efforts since 2016. While the scheme helped divert eggs from markets, it also faced financial and logistical challenges — especially until 2022, when Terengganu expanded its leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) egg ban to cover all species, ending legal egg sales altogether. Now, a study published in Ocean & Coastal Management in May 2025 offers the clearest picture yet of the buyback model’s conservation impact — and its limits — in this new legal landscape. “We wanted to better understand the conservation impact of our efforts … and whether such a model could remain viable in the long term,” said lead author Seh Ling Long, who conducted the study while at PULIHARA and now works as a senior program officer at wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC. During the five-year study period, from 2016 to 2021, PULIHARA bought more…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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