Tackling the illegal trade in turtles at Serangan Island

Tackling the illegal trade in turtles at Serangan Island

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Serangan

Nyoman Jodog's wrinkled face beamed in happiness. The reason was
simple; a white envelope inside his left pocket. Inside the
envelope were six, crisp Rp 100,000 bills, quite a large sum of
money for the elderly man.

"I think I am now ready for the Kuningan festival. Hindu
festivals always require a substantial amount of money," he
stressed.

It was March 16 and the Kuningan festival was just two days
away. Luckily for Jodog, he was selected as one of the eight
recipients of working capital grants provided by the Desa
Pekraman (customary village) of Serangan through the Turtle
Center Working Group (Pokja).

The recipients had one particular thing in common; they were
all known to be Serangan's last sellers of traditional delicacies
made of turtle meat. They mostly sold lawar (a mix of minced
vegetables and meat) and satay.

"We hope that the grants will motivate them to stop using
turtle meat and use pork, beef or chicken instead," the chairman
of the Pokja I Wayan Geriya said.

The grants were presented to the sellers in a modest ceremony
at the Kelurahan (administrative village) office. It was attended
by the head of the Kelurahan, I Wayan Dartha, the Bandesa (chief)
of Desa Pekraman Serangan, I Wayan Astawa, representatives of the
local police and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Indonesia,
the primary financial backer of Pokja.

Each seller received a grant of Rp 600,000 in cash. They also
signed letters, stating their commitment to stop using turtle
meat in their trade.

"We deliberately handed over the grant a few days before the
Kuningan festival for one obvious reason; we don't want to see
them selling turtle delicacies on that holy day," Geria added.

It was a tough call for the sellers. Kuningan is the biggest
religious celebration for the people of Serangan. Thousands of
people from as far as Gianyar and Tabanan will flock the island
on that day to pray in Sakenan, an ancient temple believed to be
built by the widely revered 15th century sage Danghyang Nirartha
and his nephew, Danghyang Astapaka.

Thousands of Hindu devotees could only mean one thing to the
lawar and satay sellers; the most profitable days in the year.

"Sales during Kuningan could reach over tenfold the sales we
make on a normal day," a seller confessed.

Geriya would have to wait until Kuningan to see whether the
grants and the pledges really meant something to the sellers.

Turtle center

The grants are part of a wider, comprehensive strategy
currently pursued by the Serangan community to eradicate illegal
turtle trading on the island.

The island along with Tanjung Benoa village in southern Bali
have for decades been the largest black market for sea turtle
meat and products. They also have served as the home base for
hundreds of poachers' ships that sail as far as Derawan in the
north and Papua in the east hunting for the turtles.

So massive was the trade and poaching that they had not only
destroyed the sea turtle population around Serangan Island but
also inflicted a devastating ecological impact on various regions
in the island.

On its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, the massive business
could ship over 20,000 turtles per year onto the island.

A combination of adaptive strategies, fine-tuned advocacy and
relentless down-to-earth community empowerment programs carried
out by several environmental NGOs, notably the WWF-Indonesia and
ProFauna in recent years have not only managed to significantly
reduce the number of trafficked turtles but also to mobilize
growing support from the local population, thus, gradually
alienating the big turtle traders.

"Serangan island has a population of over 700 families. A
large majority of them are no longer involved in illegal turtle
trade. Only nine families remain in the business, eight of which
are small-time lawar and satay sellers. Only one family is still
running a big-scale turtle poaching and trading operation," the
head of Serangan administrative village, I Wayan Dartha said.

The establishment of Pokja was one obvious sign of the rising
popular support for the turtle conservation effort. Founded by
the Serangan community and staffed by its traditional leaders,
Pokja is tasked with restoring the image of Serangan as the
Turtle Island.

"The community agreed to establish a Turtle Center, an
education and research center that also functions as an
attractive tourist destination. The center is expected to be the
focal point of the country's turtle-friendly eco-tourism network,
which will include Derawan in East Kalimantan and Sukamade in
East Java," community leader Mudana Wiguna said.

Recently, Pokja received a huge moral and financial, boost
when the WWF-Indonesia provided it with a grant of Rp 100 million
and the government of Bali agreed to allocate Rp 149 million out
of its annual budget for the Turtle Center programs.

"We will use the fund mainly to revise Desa Pekraman's Awig-
awig (customary bylaws) so as to include chapters on turtle
conservation and protection, to conduct law enforcement
activities targeting the turtle traders and to develop the Turtle
Center," Geria said.

If the people of Serangan can meet all these objectives then
it could be a model for the role of community empowerment and
participation in sea turtle conservation and protection.

Moment of truth
The Kuningan festival finally came and WWF-Indonesia Turtle
Campaign Leader Ida Bagus Windia Adnyana found at least eight
sellers of lawar and turtle-meat satay operating freely in the
vicinity of Sakenan temple.

It was a disturbing news for Pokja and Geria immediately made
an inspection around the temple.

"It turned out that five of them were not from Serangan but
from Kerobokan village in Denpasar and Ketewel village in
Gianyar. I will ask our Pecalang (traditional guards) to censure
them," he said.

However, the rest of the sellers were, in fact, members of the
Serangan community and the recipients of the working capital
grants. For them, a light censure might not be enough.

"Now that this approach has failed, it is about time to try
the "stick" approach," Mudana Wiguna said.

It turns out that Serangan has still a long way to go before
it can regain its image. In the words of Nyoman Jodog," We are
just small-time lawar and satay sellers. If you can totally
eradicate the sea turtle trade then naturally we won't be able to
sell lawar and satay made of turtle meat. Stop the trade and you
solve the problem of having to live with lawar and satay sellers
operating in your front yard."