Someone's Selling Turtle Eggs In A Facebook Group

Director General of Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision of KKP, Rear Admiral TNI Adin Nurawaluddin (Photo via Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) managed to thwart the sale and purchase of turtle eggs in a Facebook group.

"The Morowali Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision Team (PSDKP) managed to thwart the online sale and purchase of protected animals, namely turtle eggs," said Director General of Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision of the KKP, Rear Admiral TNI Adin Nurawaluddin in his statement, Friday, May 6.

Turtle eggs are one of the protected marine animal commodities so they are prohibited from being traded.

AK, a resident of Wosu Village, Bungku City, Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi, who is the owner of a Facebook account named SDM, has been named a suspect in the online sale and purchase of protected animals.

The perpetrator's actions to trade eggs of protected animals, he continued, were successfully thwarted on April 25, 2022.

“Our team managed to secure all the turtle eggs before being sold by the suspect. We will then return these eggs to their habitat so they can breed properly," said Adin as quoted by Antara.

The trend of trading in protected marine animals is increasingly being found on social media platforms and market places or Trading Through Electronic Systems/PMSE.

Although several market venues and social media platforms have included provisions prohibiting illegal trade for their users, protected marine animals are still being traded.

"From the findings of this case, we will implement a surveillance strategy by intensifying the monitoring of buying and selling activities using social media and e-commerce marketplaces," said Adin.

The KKP, he continued, encouraged the cooperation of active users of social media and market places to report the existence of trade in protected marine animals.

As a joint effort between the government and the community in protecting endangered marine animals, KKP also intensively implements public education programs related to the prohibition of trade in protected marine animals, especially for former perpetrators so as not to repeat their actions.

The Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, has strictly prohibited the trade in the sale and purchase of protected marine animals because it is against the blue economy policy he initiated for the sustainability of marine and fishery resources in the Republic of Indonesia.

In addition, in Government Regulation (PP) Number 7 of 1999 concerning Preservation of Plant and Animal Species, it has been stated that the trade activity of turtles is alive, dead, or their body parts.