Thieves threaten turtle conservation at Sukamade coast

By Gin Kurniawan and M. Falach

BANYUWANGI, East Java (JP): At daybreak, a sampan arrives and three passengers leap out of it. They walk stealthily along the coast and pierce the white sand of the beach with their iron sticks. When their sticks strike something peculiar, they dig into the sand with their hands.

That is what turtle egg thieves do on Sukamade Coast in Banyuwangi district, East Java.

These thieves are doing too much hunting and are quite desperate. Out of impatience, they frequently tear open the abdomen of a turtle and take out all the eggs inside before they sell the protected species' eggs.

Turtle eggs, which are quite popular among men because they are believed to have an aphrodisiacal affect, are easily found in Jember and Banyuwangi districts and are offered at a relatively low price of about Rp 1,500 each.

Many shopkeepers, who offer the eggs in kiosks and shops around Jember and Banyuwangi bus terminals, say that they can easily find egg buyers and even regret that they cannot sell large quantities of them since supplies depend on suppliers.

The trade of turtle eggs clearly violates Law No. 5/1970 on protected species and signifies that turtles, which are protected because of its shrinking population, are not properly protected despite their status.

The government has made many efforts to conserve turtles, including establishing Meru Betiri National Park on Turtle Coast, formerly Sukamade Coast, which belongs to Jember and Banyuwangi subdistricts. And on Rajegwesi Coast, once the habitat of sea turtles located some seven kilometers to the east of Sukamade, thieves and the construction of fishermen's homes have swept away with all traces of turtles. Ironically, the coast is one of the areas designated to serve as the national park's buffer zone.

As Rajegwesi Coast is no longer a safe place for turtles, the Minister of Agriculture stipulated Meru Betiri as a turtle conservation area through Decree No. 276/Kpts/Um/6/1972.

The conservation area, measuring a total of 50,000 hectares, is also an animal reserve, protecting, among others, turtles, Javan striped royal tigers (Panthera tigris sondaica), panthers (Panthera pardus), wild oxen of Java (Bos javanicus), peacocks (pavomuticus) and eagles. A number of rare plants, such as padmosari (Rafflesia zollingeriana), are also protected.

The turtle conservation area is a coastal area with grayish white sand expanding the length of three kilometers from the west to the east and with cliffs which act as natural fences.

There are four protected turtle species in this area: green turtle (Chelonia midas), scaled turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), slengkrah turtles (Lepydochelys olivacea) and star-fruit turtles (Dermochelys coriacea).

Some wardens say only the green turtles of the four species has a large population and makes them the only visible turtles laying eggs on the coast. The slengkrah and scaled turtles are almost extinct. The star-fruit turtles, which belong to the giant turtle family because they may be as long as two meters wide and weigh around 500 to 1000 kilograms, are also on the verge of extinction, said Musafah, a Meru Betiri National Park warden.

He revealed that the star-fruit turtles are unique in nature. Despite their huge bodies, they lay the lowest number of eggs. A star-fruit turtle lays an average of 90 eggs, while other turtles may lay as many as 150.

Usually, the turtles lay eggs only during the wet season, or in six months of the year. But in the last three years, these sea creatures have been laying eggs throughout the year. This is a new egg-laying habit and it began after giant tsunami waves struck in 1996, which destroyed practically the entire Banyuwangi coast.

So far, it is not known whether the new laying habit has affected the population level of turtles.

The wardens on duty at the national park could not give clear information on it.

"We do not know how many turtles lay eggs each day, let alone the population level of these animals," one warden said in honesty.

The coastal area where turtles are found are controlled by only five wardens whose main task is to implement the turtle conservation program. They have to move turtle eggs to a special place to prevent them from being eaten, or taken, by predators; that is, humans who wish to sell them for money, and monitor lizards, boars and sea eagles, who include them in their diet.

"Human are the worst predators because they can do worse things than turtle-eating animals," said Gunardi, the subsection head of Sukamade turtle conservation area.

Every day, these wardens are busy moving turtle eggs to a safe place. These eggs will hatch 50 days after they are laid and the average rate of successful hatching is 70 percent.

Formerly, tukik, or young hatched turtles, were moved to a special aquarium to let them grow bigger. But this huge aquarium, donated by a plantation company, was broken when the tsunami wave hit the area.

"So now, as soon as the eggs are hatched, the young turtles are set free in the sea," Gunardi said.

Now that the country is in an economic crisis, thieves are becoming more desperate. They even use sharp weapons to fight the wardens and kill the turtles.

Although turtles are not known for their courage, they are endowed with a strong instinct to protect their eggs. After laying the eggs, they move to another place and make the same hole, just like a camouflage or trap.

A turtle takes about three hours to lay eggs after it has made a hole in the sand for a hiding place, which is usually done at night to avoid light. A brief flash of light is enough to make a turtle postpone laying its eggs, even though sometimes half the egg has come out of the abdomen.

But some thieves cut open the abdomen to take the eggs out, which kills the mother as the hole is exposed to salty sea water.

Under Article 502 and 503 of Law No. 5/1990, those harming, stealing, or killing protected species are subject to a maximum of 10 years in prison or a Rp 100 million fine.

However, the law fails to deter thieves, even those who are caught red-handed. "Their punishment is so light, it doesn't make them hesitate to do the same thing all over again," said a conservation warden.