Denpasar – Authorized Departments in Bali managed to prevent turtle smuggling into Bali over the past few months. Wawan Ridwan, the director of the Marine Program in Indonesian World Wildlife Fund, said “The Turtle trades in Bali have increased again over the previous months and we must act on it immediately.”
The efforts to stop turtle trade need to be carried out by everyone and it also requires a huge commitment for the government. “The three smuggling cases uncovered this year showed that the police officers had worked hard to prevent similar crimes. Hopefully, the felons received proper punishment,” added Wawan. However, according to Wawan, the punishment for the criminals who killed and smuggled the turtles was too light. That’s why they aren’t afraid to smuggle and kill the turtles.
Since the criminals only spend several days or months in prison for crimes against turtles, they continue to carry out these crimes with little fear of their punishment. Wawan expects the government to change the rules and create harder punishment for those involved with turtle trade and smuggling. The turtle trades in Bali were higher this year because there were many orders from people. The turtle meat is consumed by many people and the shells can be sold a souvenirs.
Indonesian-WWF conducted a two day seminar entitled “The strategy to prevent the turtle trading plague”. The seminar was the result of cooperation between WWF-Indonesia, Forerst and Natural Conservation division (PHKA) in Forestry Department, Marine and Fishery Department, and Udayana University. The seminar was conducted in order to find the proper solution to prevent future turtle trades. The seminar was joined by locals, police officers and representatives of government from all around Indonesia.

News by International Bali Post

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