Turtles’ Best Friend on Maligi Beach

KOMPAS/YOLA SASTRA

Surya.

For seven years, Surya, 34, was involved with smuggling protected wildlife. However, he became aware at one point and did an about-face. Over the last three years, he has been making efforts with his friends to save the turtles on Maligi Beach from the threat of the local community’s practice of hunting turtle eggs for consumption.

“I used to sell protected animals. Now is the time to make amends for my old sins,” Surya said on Tuesday (15/3/2022) during a visit to his house on Maligi Beach, Jorong Pantai Indah, West Pasaman, West Sumatra, which also serves as a center for the activities of Pandah ArtGreen.

The turtle conservation area Surya has set up is located on Maligi Beach. The site spans around 4 kilometers from the activity center in the south to the turtle hatchery in the north. Around 100-200 meters from the edge of the beach is an oil palm plantation. Two turtle species, the Olive Ridley and hawksbill, regularly lay eggs on the beach.

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The man who is now an ecotourism activist and sells seafood, recalled his murky past from 2009 to early 2017, when he was part of a wildlife smuggling network.

During those years, he lived in Riau, West Sumatra, as well as several other provinces in Sumatra. The smuggling network traded in protected animals from Indonesian forests, like Sumatran tigers, birds of paradise, bears, golden cats, kuau raja (great argus, Argusianus argus) and rhinoceros hornbills. The animals were smuggled by sea to Malaysia and Thailand for distributing further to Bangladesh, the gateway for illicitly traded to the Middle East.

At the time, Surya believed that he was working for a wildlife rescue network. This was because they purchased the animals from people who captured and domesticate the wild animals for sale to wealthy people.

He also felt that the money he made from the crime was not a blessing, since he squandered the money by spending it on illicit drugs. Other issues also plagued him.

Surya eventually came to realize that what he was doing was a crime. He also felt that the money he made from the crime was not a blessing, since he squandered the money by spending it on illicit drugs. Other issues also plagued him. “I reflected on it. It was enough, I had to stop. It was all wrong,” said Surya.

He later switched to the seafood trade. He later founded a community with friends that recycled marine waste into handicrafts, named Pandah ArtGreen.

Turtles’ best friend

He subsequently became a “friend” to turtles because of his concern over the local people’s practice of hunting turtle eggs on Maligi Beach.

“Every egg-laying season, the beach was crowded like an evening fair. The turtle eggs were harvested and consumed,” revealed Surya.

At the end of 2018, Surya invited his peers in Pandah ArtGreen to rescue the turtles on Maligi Beach.

SURYA UNTUK KOMPAS

Children release turtles bred by the Pandah ArtGreen community on Maligi Beach, Jorong Pantai Indah, Nagari (Preparation) Maligi, Sasak Ranah Pasisie District, West Pasaman, West Sumatra, Saturday (21/9/2019).

Initially, he bought the turtle eggs that the local residents had collected and hatched them in a special place. Surya learned about turtle conservation from other activists who were involved in the same effort. He also learned from videos uploaded to YouTube.

During the first hatching, said Surya, he managed to release 230 baby turtles. The event was witnessed by hundreds of people, both local residents and tourists. The occasion also offered an opportunity to raise public awareness. “The residents were very enthusiastic. Some of them remarked, ‘Oh, these are what we’ve been eating so far’,” said Surya.

In the next phase, Surya stopped buying turtle eggs from the local residents. He feared it would be a bad practice and only turn the eggs into a commodity that would become increasingly sought after. He and his peers would end up racing against the residents to be the first to find the turtle eggs.

The enthusiasm among the local community when they watched the baby turtles’ release served as capital for Surya to carry out further education. He intensified his efforts to explain the hazards of eating turtle eggs containing heavy metals, which could cause poisoning. The residents were also taught to understand that the benefits of the turtles’ presence, such as for ecotourism.

It turned out that a handful of people were disturbed by the new activity. They conducted acts of vandalism, like throwing the turtle eggs out of the hatchery.

Surya also said there was a kind of envy among the local community because tourists from other regions frequently visited the conservation site. Moreover, the man from North Sumatra was a sumando, or an outsider who had married a woman from Jorong Pantai Indah.

He continued with the turtle conservation and public awareness activities. Up until the latest release in January, Surya and his group had released 4,300 baby turtles into the sea.

“Now, more than half of residents have stopped consuming turtle eggs,” he said.

This method can result in hatching 95 percent of eggs, while relocating the eggs to a hatchery results in a hatching success rate of 70 percent.

At the end of 2020, Surya and he peers started using the method of allowing the turtle eggs to hatch in their original nests, or in situ hatching. This method can result in hatching 95 percent of eggs, while relocating the eggs to a hatchery results in a hatching success rate of 70 percent.

Surya said the turtle conservation activity led to the renown of Maligi Beach. This in turn encouraged the development of other ecotourism activities, such as planting mangrove and casuarina trees, culinary tourism and angling tours.

The local residents also started earning an extra income from tourists. Apart from that, continued Surya, Maligi Beach became part of government programs like mangrove planting and bridge development.

KOMPAS/YOLA SASTRA

Surya.

“The residents are even more aware of the importance of safeguarding the turtles’ existence. They attract people to come visit here. Ecotourism can generate extra income aside from [marine] activities,” added Surya.

He has also encouraged the local administration to draw up a tourism development blueprint for Maligi Beach. In Surya’s view, the beach area should be maintained along the lines of special interest ecotourism, and not for mass tourism.

Surya

Born: 28 Oct. 1987, Gunung Bayu, Simalungun, North Sumatra

Occupation: Ecotourism activist, seafood trader

Organizations:

- Founder and patron, Pandah ArtGreen

- Secretary, West Pasaman Tourism Activists Forum

Awards:

- Pioneering Youth Champion of West Pasaman for natural resources conservation and tourism (2019)

- Pioneering Youth Champion of West Sumatra for natural resources conservation and tourism (2019)

- Turtle Rescuer Award, West Pasaman Environment Office (2020)

(This article was translated by Aris Prawira).