Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post 23 May 15;
Conservationists have called on traditional communities in the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, to stop catching and eating sea turtles as the protected animal is on the verge of extinction and those consuming it are at risk of poisoning.
Padang’s Bung Hatta University Turtle Information and Data Center head Harfiandri Damanhuri said the Mentawai community has long had a tradition to hunt for turtle meat for communal and wedding feasts. The tradition is still taking place in a number of coastal villages.
“If the habit is not immediately stopped, the population of turtles in Mentawai and the waters off West Sumatra will further decline. Hard work is needed to stop the habit because it has become a tradition,” said Harfiandri on Friday.
He added that at least two traditional ceremonies take place in different villages, each using between 15 and 20 turtles. After catching the turtles, each family usually turns the turtle shells into house ornaments, while outside of ceremonial needs, they eat turtle meat if they happen to catch one.
“I’ve seen up to 20 turtle shells, measuring between 80 and 120 centimeters, being hung on the walls of an uma, or traditional Mentawai house. Some of the homes hang up to six shells,” he said.
He said two sea turtle species were usually caught in Mentawai: the green turtle and the hawksbill turtle.
At least nine mass incidents of food poisoning from consuming turtle meat have been recorded in Mentawai since 2005, during which 30 people were killed. The latest incident took place in Sao hamlet on Sipora Island on March 24, 2013, which led to 148 people being taken to hospital and four of them dying, including an 11-month-old baby who was poisoned through breast milk.
The highest number of victims was recorded in June 2006 in Sibuddak Oinan hamlet on Siberut Island when 13 people who were preparing for a wedding feast were killed.
“Turtles are long-living marine animals and ocean explorers. They enter polluted waters and eat seaweed that absorbs heavy metals, thus leaving high arsenic levels in their bodies, so when humans consume the meat they could be poisoned,” Harfiandri said.
Despite the tough challenge to change the habit, said Harfiandri, the cases of poisoning have served as an effective campaign to urge the community to stop catching turtles. After the last poisoning case in 2013, the Mentawai Islands regent issued a circular against catching and eating turtle meat.
The number of turtle landings on the shores of Mentawai remains unclear, as only 20 landing spots have been studied. However, Harfiandri assumed that around 2,500 mother turtles land in 100 spots annually, especially on small islands. Usually, each landing of a female turtle is followed by a male turtle, so around 5,000 turtles are assumed to land each year.
The turtle species found on Mentawai are the green, the hawksbill and the olive ridley. Residents reported seeing the leatherback sea turtle in Southwest Siberut last year. All of them are listed in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement between governments.
Gerson Saleleubaja, a resident of Siberut in Mentawau, said turtle hunting was still taking place in the islands.
Consumption of turtle meat is considered a necessity in the coastal villages during traditional ceremonies, such as for building boats, opening farms and building the uma homes, while residents usually replace turtle meat with pork during wedding parties.
“The event in which many turtles are killed is during boat building as the feast involves the whole village on two occasions: that is, when felling the main tree and pulling the boat to the river or sea,” said Gerson.
