seaturtle.org : MTN : ARCHIVES : Sign In

Marine Turtle Newsletter 2:3, © 1977

West Java Turtles Almost Extinct

The turtle populations at the southern part of the west Java coast have almost become extinct. They are scattered along the coast of Ciamis, Tasiknalaya, Garut and Cianjur. A turtles' breeding site at the Sukabumi sea coast, for instance, is visited only by less than 100 turtles during the breeding season today. People stated that this is due to continuous illegal hunting for years. Hundreds of young turtles were released several years ago in order to keep the biological equilibrium of the population.

The west Java Fishery Service has released about 1,200 young turtles recently, at the Southern part of the west Java sea coast, in Ciamis, Garut, Cianjur, Cipatujah and Pangandaran.

Kidrat Ikrasaputra, a staff member of the fishery service reported that during the fiscal year of 1975/1976 the Government assisted with a special fund of about 4.2 million rupiahs to support the program.