Kratie: Through its joint nest protection programme, the Mekong Turtle Conservation Team-a collaboration with the Fisheries Administration and the Wildlife Conservation Society-has discovered the first two nests of Asian Giant Softshell Turtles of 2025 on sandbanks along the Mekong River in Sambo district, Kratie province.

According to Agence Kampuchea Presse, WCS Cambodia’s press release on Monday indicated that the team anticipates finding more eggs of the Asian Giant Softshell Turtles during the upcoming nesting season, which runs from January to May 2025. From 2020 to 2024, the team discovered 201 nests containing a total of 7,292 eggs, of which 3,591 successfully hatched along the Mekong River sandbanks.

However, in 2023 and 2024, there was a noted decline in nest numbers, with only 10 nests in 2023 and 11 in 2024. The Critically Endangered Asian Giant Softshell Turtle was once thought extinct in the Cambodian portion of the Mekong River until its rediscovery in 2007 along a 48-kilometre stretch of the river between Sambo district, Kratie province, and Siem Bouk district, Stung Treng province.

The Nest Protection Programme is one of several conservation strategies employed by WCS Cambodia and the Fisheries Administration to help restore the population of the Asian Giant Softshell Turtle in Cambodia.