Balinese rituals fuel spike in trafficking of endangered sea turtles

https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/balinese-rituals-fuel-spike-in-trafficking-of-endangered-sea-turtles/
DENPASAR, Indonesia — A recent spate of busts has placed Bali in the spotlight once again as a key domestic market for endangered sea turtles. In February, Bali marine police officers confiscated 600 kilograms of butchered green turtle meat from a truck that had travelled from Madura Island to the resort enclave of Kuta. Last month, local news agency Detik reported that police had raided a warehouse in Gianyar, central Bali, where they discovered three green turtles, two of them still alive. In both instances police believed the turtles were being traded for their meat.

The Balinese have a special dispensation to use turtles in ceremonies, but they cannot exceed 40 centimeters in length and must be obtained from the Turtle Conservation and Education Center, which the WWF helped open in 2006. The new measures worked: “Our research shows that in the last 10 years, no more than 100 turtles have been requested for rituals annually and in 2015 the number was just 48,” Suprapti said.

But the recent busts seem to indicate a significant surge in turtle trafficking to Bali. Last year, the island’s marine police and regular police force recorded eight smuggling incidents accounting for 171 green turtles — the most since 2001. And at time of writing, 2017 has already seen eight busts, according to Permana Yudiarso, from the Office of Marine and Coastal Resources Management in Bali. It’s not clear to what extent the increase is related to religious ceremonies or consumption outside the ceremonial sphere. According to marine police commissioner Sukandar, turtle meat fetches between 5 million and 7 million rupiah ($375-525) per kilogram. It is usually consumed as sate — meat on a stick.