Turtles struggle to lay eggs on remaining nesting beach<\/p>\n
Text and photos by Mulkan Salmona<\/p>\n
Pangumbahan, West Java (JP): Soft sand and towering waves mark
\nthe beautiful beach of Pangumbahan in southern West Java, but on
\nNew Year's Eve it was bleak and unattractive. However, the crowds
\nvisiting the site in the Gunung Batu subdistrict of the Sukabumi
\nregency, were obviously expecting something.<\/p>\n
Chatting on the mats they had laid along the beach, this was a
\ndifferent crowd from the usual scientific-looking cluster of
\nresearchers and students.<\/p>\n
They were mostly domestic tourists, but there were also those
\non business, the turtle egg business. Dozens of large sea
\nturtles, instead of only eight at other times, pick this night at
\nthe end of every year to slowly crawl out of the sea and lay
\ntheir eggs along the three kilometer beach. Pangumbahan,
\nexplained an expert, J.P.Schulz, is one of a few remaining major
\ngreen sea turtle nesting beaches on Java.<\/p>\n
Unfriendly mosquitoes pestered the sleepy crowd which was
\ngrowing anxious at 11 p.m. Then, a roundish shadow crawled up the
\nbeach ever so slowly. Eventually the big green turtle stopped
\nnear a tree and started digging.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes they don't lay their eggs straight away, but move
\nto a second or third hole to fool their enemies,\" divulged
\nTatang, a field employee of a private firm permitted to collect
\nturtle eggs along the beach. He has spent three years looking out
\nfor the turtles.<\/p>\n
Turtles need a long time to nest, says a marine information
\nand resources officer of the local branch of the World Wide Fund
\nfor Nature, R.R.F. Troenoatmodjo.<\/p>\n
\"They lay over 100 eggs in one nest,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Listen to their heaving and gasping,\" he requested, \"after
\ntheir long plodding journey from the sea.\"<\/p>\n
The female turtles looked as if they were crying, but
\nTroenatmodjo said it is nature's way of protecting the turtles'
\neyes from sea water.<\/p>\n
Tatang requested onlookers to sit still while he quietly
\nsneaked up to the beast. The animal moved again and slithered
\ntowards another part of the beach, stopped and began digging
\nagain.<\/p>\n
He beckoned to onlookers to get a closer look and flickered
\nhis flashlight towards it for a fraction of a second.<\/p>\n
We continued to observe the turtle by only the light of the
\nmoon and stars. We could see that she had laid many eggs before
\ncovering the hole to resume her tedious shuffle back to the
\nIndian Ocean.<\/p>\n
But suddenly flashlights turned on her and dozens of cameras
\nflashed endlessly. Some of the thoughtless onlookers even stood
\nin her way and, ignoring prior warnings, climbed onto the
\nstruggling turtle's back as if it were a public bus. All over the
\nbeach the scene repeated itself. Visitors kicking, pushing and
\nsitting on the turtles, as if the two hour ordeal of laying eggs
\nwas not enough trauma for the majestic sea creatures.<\/p>\n
Tatang shooed some of them away and the turtle managed to
\ncontinue her journey like an amphibian tank. She suddenly slipped
\ninto the surf and headed out to sea, oblivious to how few of her
\nhatchlings would follow her.<\/p>\n
\"It's alright to crowd here, as long as no one shines a light
\nor make a noise,\" said Tatang, rather fruitlessly.<\/p>\n
\"If the turtles are disturbed they won't hatch and we'll
\nsuffer a great loss,\" the employee of CV Daya Bakti said.<\/p>\n
He and other licensed people guard the coast from groups
\nslipping onto the beach instead of through their gate.<\/p>\n
\"Everyone who enters through our gate is first briefed about
\nturtle watching,\" said Tatang, on guard at one of six posts. The
\nbriefing consists of reading a typed card by the light of a
\nhurricane lamp.<\/p>\n
Pangumbahan, derived from the Sundanese word 'kumbah', means a
\nwashing place, and is said to refer to the site where people wash
\nturtle eggs from the sand. The beach is bordered by the
\nCikangkung river in the north and the Indian Ocean in the south.
\nThe river Cipanarikan is on its east side while Cibuaya beach
\nmarks its western limit.<\/p>\n
Besides green turtles (chelonia mydas), hawksbills
\n(eretmochelys imbricata, locally known as 'penyu sisik' ) and
\nleatherbacks (dermochelys coriacea, locally known as 'penyu
\nbelimbing') also nest along the coast.<\/p>\n
Locals have been collecting turtle's eggs for over 30 years.
\nReports from the West Java provincial fishery office note an
\nannual harvest of 2.5 million eggs in the 1950s and 1.25 million
\nin 1964.<\/p>\n
Ten years later, the harvest was cut to 509,000 eggs; and the
\nnumber has kept decreasing. Observers say uncontrolled gathering
\nof the eggs has caused a drop in the population of these ancient
\nmariners worldwide.<\/p>\n
In 1981 the regional administration of Sukabumi took limited
\naction and restricted egg hunting to licensed private parties,
\nwhich is now CV Daya Bakti. Like other firms before it, all
\nreportedly owned by the same Sukabumi-based businessman called
\nPak Adang by locals, this company is obliged to pay a contract
\nfee to the regency and use part of its haul to breed turtles to
\npreserve the population. The eggs sell for Rp 500 to Rp 600 each.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/turtles-struggle-to-lay-eggs-on-remaining-nesting-beach-1447893297",
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