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."