Jakarta, July 27 (Antara) - A group of animal conservationists gathered on Sunday in the Pelangi Beach of the South Java Sea, Bantul District, Yogyakarta for an event that is worth for nature.
Usually, some Javanese community visited the beach to present offerings in the Southern Java cost that goes straight into the Indian Ocean.
The offering is a ritual form to serve 'Nyai Loro Kidul' which according to Legend was the mortal daughter of a powerful ruler-king of West Java. Nyai Loro Kidul is now believed to be the guardian of the Southern Java Sea.
However, the conservationists on Sunday were not releasing offerings into the sea for Nyai Roro Kidul. They set free hatchlings to preserve the population of the rare reptiles which play an important role in maintaining sea biota and ecosystem.
"The hatchlings we have released are young turtles which were hatched in the first batch of this year's turtle egg laying season. They were safeguarded by animal lover volunteers in the southern coastal areas," Ferry Munandar, the chairman of the Turtle Conservation Volunteer Community, said here on Sunday.
The number of hatchlings set free into the sea by the volunteers in Yoyakarta was relatively small. Yet, the benefit of the action is great.
It could encourage people to do the same to help protect turtles, particularly people find them laying eggs in their nests. They are expected to release them into the sea when their eggs have hatched.
Munandar said that the number of hatchlings released on Sunday was only 25, far smaller if compared with those released by conservationists in Gianyar, Bali, which since 15 years ago have reached 15,000.
He said that the young turtles in Bantul, Yoyakarta, were found by fishermen in Cemara Cave last month. It was the first turtle nest found in the area in 2015.
"The release of the hatchlings was done by a representative of the Jogja Village and a family of tourists from Kalasan, Sleman District, representing the people," stated Munandar.
Munandar said that together with volunteers, the local people released young turtles as part of the effort to preserve sea biota and attract tourists to visit the Pelangi and Goa Cemara beaches in Bantul districts.
"We have made significant progress every year because the number of people and tourists involving in the preservation of the protected species continues to increased," he noted.
The increasing number of volunteers and turtle conservationists is thanks to the rising people's awareness of the benefit of the presence of turtle in the sea.
Basically there are at least six turtle species which respectively benefit mankind and the environment.
They are green turtle (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), grey turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and flatback turtle (Natatordepressus).
Green turtles --which have the ability to cruise a distance of millions of nautical miles-- provide and disseminate nutrition for sea plants or fish through their droppings. The droppings become fertilizers for the sea creatures.
Leatherback turtles help human beings to increase the sources of sea potential as they increase the population of fish. This turtle species consumes jellyfish which is the predator of young fish.
The absence of leatherback turtle will allow the explosion of jellyfish population.
In the meantime, hawksbill turtles feed on damaged and ailing coral reefs. So that this reptile animal serves as a caretaker of coral reef so that coral reefs can grow flourishly after the turtles do their 'home chores.' Healthy coral reefs serve as a good fish population habitat and beautiful object of tourism.
Turtle is a species which dates back to the ancient time. This animal also serves as an object for scientific researches.
Thus, turtle could serve as a gate for mankind to study what happened in the past and serve as a source of scientific, biological and environment researches.
Last week (July 23), the Nature Conservation Agency (BKSDA) of Bengkulu Province set free to the sea of 100 young turtles of the grey species (Lepidochelys olivacea). They were released in the Air Hitam beach, Mukomuko District.
"We released 100 hatchlings, all of which were the grey turtle species," Rasydin Prima of the the BKSDA for Mukomuko, said on Thursday.
However, the young turtles which were released in Bengkulu were products of breeding endeavors by the Environment and Youth Nature Lovers Group (KLP3LH) of Air Hitam, Mukomuko District, Bengkulu.
Over the past view years, the BKSDA and the KLP3LH have been active in monitoring the population of turtles in the Air Hitam beach.
"The Air Hitam beach is a location for turtle to lay eggs," Rasyidin Prima said.
He said that the his side and the conservationists concentrated on the supervision of turtle laying eggs in their natural nests and on breeding activities.
Rasyidin explained the main challenges they were facing included turtle egg thefts because the eggs were sold in the market.
"Apart from that there are also many natural predators such as lizards and other animals eating the turtle eggs," he said.
In the meantime, the Chairman of the Saba Beach Turtle Conservation Group of Bali's Gianyar District, Made Kikik, said recently (July 12), his group had released 15,000 hatchlings between 2009 and 2015 at Saba Beach, Bali, in cooperation with the Baby Turtles Care Rotary Club. Some of the released turtles were results of breedings.
In 2015, the conservationists were successful in hatching 1,273 eggs. Of these, 400 have been set free into the sea by the Bali Taman Rotary Club.
The Bali Taman Rotary Club also took part in breeding of green turtles in their parks.
Made Kikik explained that he was very grateful for the Bali Taman Rotary Club for its participation in preserving green turtles in the regions.
Therefore, he called on local residents to give care for the preservation of the environment and turtles.
He said that now turtle hatching business had been gaining progress.
"We can now guarantee that about 75 percent of turtle eggs could be hatched and survive. Unlike in the past, when we often failed. We hope that the attention of all donators would help develop turtles in Saba Beach," He added.***3***
(T.A014/b003/B003)
(T.SYS/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 27-07-2015 23:21:4 |
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