Anambas Island Sea Turtles
March, 2009

Green Turtle

Dr. Wallace J Nichols, or "J" as his friends call him, joined us in the Anambas Islands in March. J speaks softly and gently, but with words that strike to the core of an issue and leave you with the understanding that he is fiercely passionate about the protection of the environment, community conservation and a concern for the seven species of sea turtles that are all endangered. With J in hand, we met with school children, fisherman and the local government to discuss the future of sea turtles in Anambas, hear of their concerns and learn about their decline. 

There are at least two species of sea turtles that nest on several beaches in Anambas – hawksbill and green turtles.  Green turtles eat mostly jellyfish, migrate to distant shores, feed in one location and nest in another. Hawksbill turtles general migrate less, eating primarily sponges and sea grass while nesting in the same geographic area. Sea turtles are important to reef and marine ecology. They tend lagoon gardens and coral reefs, the “rainforests of the sea.”

  
   Durai Beach                                                 Green Turtle Tracks

Durai Island, just northwest of Terempah, is about ½ a mile long and is the nesting home of both species. Thousands of nesting turtles arrive there throughout the year; the peak season lies between July and September. Both green and hawksbill turtles nest together, at night, laying a hundred or more eggs in large holes on the beach. Hatchlings emerge about 2 months later usually at night or in the early morning light.

Sea turtles are endangered around the world because most cultures ate, or are still eating, turtles and their eggs. Like humans, turtles live long. They don’t mature to have eggs until they are about 20 years old or more, but every three years, or so, they will continue to produce eggs until their death at around 80 years. If the turtle survives the incubation period and hatches, the most challenging time in its life commences: it must make its way out of the nest, down to the shoreline and across the reef where fish, birds and other prey are waiting. Once past the reef, only then does the turtle have some chance to survive in the vast wide-open sea.

For the turtles in Anambas, most never make it to hatching.  Almost 100% of the eggs are diligently gathered the night they are laid and sold at the local market within 24 hours. The eggs are then boiled and unlike a chicken egg, the contents are sucked out of the soft leathery shell. Allegedly, some people also catch adult turtles, cook them and eat the meat using its shell as a bowl. Years of harvesting the eggs have taken their toll and now these sea animals are disappearing.

Thankfully, the people of Anambas care. School children ran unabashed towards J enthusiastically wishing to join the first “sea turtle club” in Anambas. Town council members offered to help us establish a sea turtle conservation program and ushered us to visit with Dr. T. Mukhtaruddin, Bupati Anambas (Head of the Anambas Region) to win his support. It is incredibly fortuitous that we have become friends with a remarkable woman, Ibu Nina Marliana, Head of Premier Oil’s Community Development Program. With the support of Francis Lee at Raffles Marina and Dr. Aji Sularso, Director General of Surveillance and Control of Marine Resources & Fisheries in Jakarta, we hope to protect Durai Island and work with the Anambas Government to steward its first marine protected area.  Jointly we hope that this program will become a center for education and skill-based training for people to learn how to become helpful stewards of the oceans and its beautiful sea turtles.

Ibu Nina Marliana, Dr. Wallace J Nichols and Dr. T. Mukhtaruddin, Bupati Anambas with other members of the Anambas Council, Premier Oil and Biosphere Foundation.