seaturtle.org : MTN : ARCHIVES : Sign In

Marine Turtle Newsletter 54:4-7, © 2001

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

Current Status of Trade and Legal Protection for Sea Turtles in Indonesia

Catherine Barr
Greenpeace International, c/o Greenpeace-U.K., Canonbury Villas, Islington, London N1 2PN U.K.

The decline, and even the extinction, of sea turtle populations around the world is well known and well documented (e.g., Groombridge and Luxmoore 1989). Commercial exploitation, driven by domestic markets and high volume international trade, is largely responsible for this trend. Bali, in Indonesia, is probably the centre of the largest domestic exploitation of sea turtles in the world, as well as being the leading exporter of sea turtle products. All available evidence indicates that remaining populations are seriously threatened. National legislation protecting these species is inadequate and poorly enforced. Neither the green turtle nor the hawksbill, both heavily exploited, are currently protected. The purpose of this article is to review the current status of trade and legal protection for sea turtles in Indonesia, as well as to recommend that new regulations ban the capture of hawksbills and restrict the harvest of green turtles.

Domestic markets

Six species of sea turtle occur in Indonesian waters, but the exploitation in Bali is focused on green turtles, which are killed mainly for their meat. Despite a decree, signed by the Governor of Bali in January 1990, aimed at reducing the number of sea turtles killed, Greenpeace investigations have shown that the number of turtles killed in Bali in 1990 was at least double the official government figure. In the 1970's, 16,494 to 37,651 sea turtles were brought each year into the port of Tanjung Benoa, Bali, the centre of the trade (Greenpeace International 1989). The government claims that this figure has now fallen to approximately 10,000, but Greenpeace studies conclude that a minimum of 21,000 turtles were slaughtered in 1990. There are at least six slaughterhouses in Tanjung Benoa, each slaughtering about 10 turtles a day, except during religious occasions when considerably more may be killed. Bali, unlike other islands in Indonesia, is dominated by the Hindu religion and sea turtle meat is eaten by guests attending Hindu ceremonies (Davenport 1988). Considering that government statistics exclude juvenile turtles, and none of these data take into account mortality during shipment or direct sales en route, it has been estimated that at least 50,000 sea turtles (mostly greens) are killed every year in Indonesia (Salm 1984). No attempt is made to kill the turtles before butchering begins, and they are slowly cut up alive.

There are several by-products of the green turtle industry, including eggs, skin, fat, and bones, which are sold locally, often from stalls in front of the slaughterhouses. Large numbers of both green and hawksbill turtles are also stuffed for sale to tourists and wealthy Indonesians. The tourist trade is playing a significant role in the decline of Indonesian turtles. Meat is sold to local Indonesians and in the cheaper tourist restaurants; in the markets it is similarly priced to chicken or pork (Greenpeace International/TRAFFIC(Japan) 1990). Efforts should be made to educate visitors to Indonesia, encouraging them to avoid turtle product souvenirs and turtle meat. Under the Governor of Bali's decree, the sale of sea turtle products and turtle meat is forbidden, except for feasts on religious occasions. Little attempt is made to implement the decree, however, and the slaughter continues unabated. In order to play a significant part in ensuring the survival of these populations, the Governor of Bali's decree must be fully implemented and enforced.

The exploitation of both green turtles and hawksbills in Indonesian waters goes far beyond Bali and occurs throughout the archipelago. The network of boats supplying the Bali trade have been forced to travel farther and farther afield as local populations have become commercially extinct (Greenpeace International 1989). Little is known about the migratory movements of these populations, but it is likely that many feed in Indonesian waters and nest elsewhere, possibly Australia (Limpus et al. 1991). This heightens the importance of regional cooperation on their behalf. In addition to the exploitation of all age-classes of green and hawksbill turtles, virtually every sea turtle egg (all species) laid on the major nesting beaches in Indonesia is collected for human consumption. Although some of these beaches are protected on paper, poaching is widespread and population replenishment is effectively reduced to zero. Based largely on the comprehensive work of Schulz (1987, 1989), it is estimated that 7 to 9 million eggs are collected annually in Indonesia (Greenpeace International 1989).

International trade

Since Indonesia joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in March 1979, all exports of sea turtle products from Indonesia have been in breach of this convention. There is ample evidence of continuing illegal trade, primarily to Japan (e.g., Indonesian CITES statistics; Milliken and Tokunaga 1987; Groombridge and Luxmoore 1989) and Indonesia is actively stockpiling huge quantities of hawksbill shell ('tortoiseshell') (WWF 1989). A recent government inventory revealed over 18 tonnes of tortoiseshell held by traders in Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi (J. Canin, Greenpeace, pers. comm., 1991). This represents a six tonne increase since Greenpeace investigated these stockpiles in 1988. The stockpiles are constantly being added to in the hope that legal trade with Japan will be allowed to continue.

Japan, which holds reservations under CITES on hawksbill and olive ridley turtles, is the driving force behind the international trade in sea turtle products and has imported a range of products representing >2,000,000 sea turtles in the last twenty years [see Canin, this issue]. The recent ban on the export of olive ridley skins from Mexico (Aridjis 1990) leaves raw hawksbill shell as the major component of the international sea turtle trade. Despite reducing its imports since joining CITES in 1980, Japan still imports about 20,000 kg of raw hawksbill shell each year (T. Milliken, TRAFFIC(Japan), pers. comm., 1990). It is notable that at the Symposium on Hawksbill Management in Nagasaki in November 1990, Japanese hawksbill shell importers agreed to controls which will effectively reduce imports and place further restrictions on the origin of the shell (J. Canin, pers. comm., 1991). Monitoring compliance is difficult, however, since customs statistics do not reveal products laundered through non-CITES parties, nor do they document products passing illegally through CITES signatories (Canin 1989). Indonesia laundered hawksbill shell through Singapore and Brunei until these countries joined CITES; these imports are now expected to cease.

National legislation

The Indonesian government's efforts towards protection of sea turtles in their waters has so far focused on 'ranching' with the financial backing of the Japanese. Yet CITES has never accepted ranching as a beneficial management technique for sea turtles, and stresses that protection of wild populations must be the country's foremost priority. After many years of preparation, a new conservation law has recently been passed in Indonesia. In the past, funding for sea turtle conservation has been extremely limited since it falls within the remit of the Ministry of Forestry where marine conservation is given a low priority. Under the new conservation law, however, specific regulations with respect to sea turtles will be written. Greenpeace is calling for a number of measures which we feel should be included in these new regulations. Our recommendations include the following:

  1. a ban on the capture of any species of sea turtle for the purposes of commercial trade, with a very limited quota to allow for traditional feasts during religious ceremonies until this can be phased out completely,
  2. full protection for hawksbill turtles in Indonesian waters,
  3. full protection for breeding green turtles on or within 100 m of nesting beaches [leatherbacks and loggerheads are already fully protected in Indonesia],
  4. full protection for green turtles >80 cm curved carapace length,
  5. a total ban on the sale of turtle meat in all public places; i.e., commercial sale,
  6. a license requirement for all turtle collectors; that is, for persons who travel to the outer islands collecting turtles from the fishermen,
  7. the in situ protection of a minimum of 70% of eggs on each nesting beach (the actual number taken should be based on scientific evidence that this would not be detrimental to the population as a whole),
  8. a prohibition on the sale of all stuffed turtles, and
  9. a requirement that sea turtles be humanely killed prior to butchering.

In concert with the legislative changes proposed above, it is essential that adequate resources be made available to fully implement and enforce the new regulations. We believe that the Indonesian government has an international responsibility to stop all exports of sea turtle products and to protect these species while in Indonesian waters. In the face of high levels of unregulated exploitation of green and hawksbill turtles, Greenpeace supports the immediate enforcement of the Governor of Bali's decree, and for strict regulations on sea turtles under the new conservation law. The rigorous enforcement of legislation protecting these populations is critical for the survival of sea turtles in Indonesia and throughout the southwestern Pacific.

Aridjis, H. 1990. Mexico proclaims total ban on harvest of turtles and eggs. Marine Turtle Newsletter 50:1-3.

Canin, J. 1989. International Trade in Sea Turtle Products, p.27-29. In: Proc. Ninth Annual Workshop on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology (S. A. Eckert, K. L. Eckert, and T. H. Richardson, Compilers). NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFC-232.

Davenport, J. 1988. The Turtle Industry of Bali. Brit. Herp. Soc. Bull. 25:16-24.

Greenpeace International. 1989. Sea Turtles and Indonesia. Prepared for the 7th Conference of Parties to CITES, Lausanne, Switzerland, 9-20 October 1989, by Greenpeace International, The Netherlands. 23 p.

Greenpeace International and TRAFFIC(Japan). 1990. Aspects of Sea Turtle Trade in Indonesia. Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Groombridge, B. and R. Luxmoore. 1989. The Green Turtle and Hawksbill (Reptilia: Cheloniidae): World Status, Exploitation and Trade. Secretariat of CITES, Lausanne, Switzerland. 601 p.

Limpus, C. J., J. D. Miller, J. Parmenter, D. Reimer, N. McLachlan, and R. Webb. 1991. Migration of green and loggerhead turtles to and from eastern Australia rookeries. J. Aust. Wildlife: in press.

Milliken, T. and H. Tokunaga. 1987. The Japanese Sea Turtle Trade 1970-1986. A Special Report prepared by TRAFFIC(Japan) for the Center for Environmental Education, Washington D. C. 171 p.

Salm, R. 1984. Sea turtle trade. IUCN WWF Project 3108, Field Report No. 5, Marine Conservation. (unpubl.)

Schulz, J. P. 1987. Status of Chelonia mydas and Eretmochelys imbricata in Indonesia. Consultancy report prepared for the Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Schulz, J. P. 1989. Report on observations on sea turtles in east Indonesia, with notes on nature conservation in general. IUCN Report.

WWF. 1989. Submission to CITES 1989 on Indonesia. Surrey, U.K.