Residents Of Sindhu Beach Denpasar Prepare 24 Conserved Turtles To Be Released By Jokowi During The G20 Summit

Chairperson of Turtle Conservation Dwarawati I Made Winarta when explaining his intention to give turtles to the President of the Republic of Indonesia in the context of the G20 in Denpasar, Wednesday (10/8/2022). ANTARA/Ni Putu Putri Muliantari

DENPASAR - Ahead of the G20 Summit, the Balinese are increasingly showing their support. One of them is the Dwarawati Turtle Conservation which is managed by residents of the Sindhu Beach area, Denpasar.

At the conservation site, which was made by the community and donations, 24 turtles measuring 20 centimeters in size have been prepared for President Joko Widodo to be released during the G20 Summit at the summit of the state leadership meeting, November 2022.

"I want to participate, Mr. President as the leader of the G20, so I am proud to see him leading the release by holding the turtles from our conservation breeding," said Dwarawati Chairperson of Turtle Conservation I Made Winarta (47), as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, August 10.

Currently, Made Winarta's spark community has prepared 24 1.5-year-old turtles, which will be two years old at the G20.

According to him, the choice of age is in accordance with the efforts of the Indonesian government in realizing turtle conservation efforts, which do not just release them when they are still in the form of hatchlings.

"They are turtles from the same mother. If the turtles are released, there is enough enlargement as the value of caring for and rearing them. If they are bigger, they are afraid that they will be difficult to hold and there is an international response that these turtles are caught even though they are reared. But instead of releasing the hatchlings, "said Winarta.

The type of turtle that conservation parties will provide to the government for the G20 is the sea turtle. This species is one of three species that are conserved and widely found.

"This is a type of turtle, a turtle native to Sanur along the coast, so I conserved the eggs, then rescued them and hatched them here," he said.

Hundreds of turtles are cared for and raised on Sindhu Beach. Winarta experienced many difficulties, during raising the turtles, especially when the beach sand contained potential hatchlings, beach visitors often stepped on it without knowing that there were turtle eggs in it, as a result hundreds of eggs were damaged and died.

The next problem is that when the hatchlings hatch but are disturbed by light and noise from hotels and restaurants along the coast, they end up navigating the wrong way and heading for the light source instead of the sea, until they end up being eaten by other animals such as dogs.

The Dwarawati Turtle Conservation previously stood on the edge of Sindhu Beach with a bedeg or semi-permanent building before the Denpasar City Government revitalized the beach area and turned the place into a beautiful, neat and wider area.

In front of the conservation site, there is now a name sign and a giant turtle statue as a marker so that tourists don't miss this educational tour. It is proven that now around 200 to 300 visitors on weekdays and 1,000 holiday visitors come a day to see the typical Sanur turtle cultivation.

The turtles are not immediately released into the sea after birth, but are raised using the methods that Winarta has learned in the last 15 years.

For two years the turtles were fed minced fish, after which their instincts were tested. The turtles eventually get used to not eating tree leaves or anything that is not eaten by humans, later after being released into the sea, there is little potential for these protected animals to eat plastic or other marine debris.

This is also Winarta's effort to protect the turtle species that should live for hundreds of years, plus the sea turtle is the most common animal encountered by Balinese people.

The love for this man from Sindhu Kaja for turtles and the environment he got from the beginning saw two turtles rising to the mainland. He and several of his colleagues decided to make conservation on their own until they finally remained as conservation managers to this day.

With conservation conditions getting better, Winarta finally wants to show the meaning of turtles to the international community, through the release of which he hopes President Jokowi will accept.

"At that time the president was about to come here but he canceled, even though I want to say that I prepared this for the G20, secondly I want to know who there will be a cabinet meeting in Bali, I also want to prepare for him. I will still prepare it," said the head of the conservation

Because he had canceled meeting the number one person in Indonesia, Winarta finally lost the connection to coordinate his good intentions. He also briefly conveyed this to the Deputy Mayor of Denpasar, and wanted to clarify his intentions to the Mayor of Denpasar Jaya Negara but there was no way.

From this intention, he hopes that there will be messages related to his intention in conserving turtles in Bali, this effort to educate the public and tourists is considered not only to have an impact on turtles but also other environmental and biological sustainability.