Sangalaki turtles apparently no longer protected...

[Bora_Horza]

Hi all, I recieved this news from the Turtle Foundation who had been working at Sangalaki, Indonesia:

A successful protection project for sea turtles on the island of Sangalaki, running for over 12 years, was indiscriminately terminated by the local government without any explanation in late 2012. Now, endangered green sea turtle nests are being illegally plundered. Please help with your signature to urge the government to restore the protection programme to its full extent to give this threatened sea turtle population a real chance to survive!

Some translations from the german at the petition:
vorname = forname
nachname = surname
warum unterschreiben sie? = why you sign?

https://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-sea-turtles-of-sangalaki

Feel free to share the above link!

 

[Zippsy]

FYI, since the dive resort on the island got kicked out, the mantas have also disappeared. While we saw one last week, visitors from other nearby resorts haven't seen any there for at least months. This in a place that you could see a dozen or more every dive a few years ago. Nearby Maratua had much better diving - maybe because of the resident dive shops there.

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

Why did the dive resort on Sangalaki got kicked out?

You are lucky. I was just there last month and there was no manta at all and was told that no mantas have been spotted since January.

 

[Zippsy]

I was told that the navy showed up one day and just ordered everyone off the island immediately. The fishermen showed up within a few days and had free roam to trash the place. Dive Borneo Indonesia with Sangalaki Dive Lodge in Kakaban, Derawan, Nabucco, Maratua, Samama and see mantas, turtles, sharks...

but back to the petition: https://www.change.org/petitions/sav...s-of-sangalaki

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

That is pretty f'd up.

We did not get chance to go on the island as well.

But the diving at Sangalaki was great. I actually prefer it over Maratua.

 

[Zippsy]

Really? Wow. I liked the small fish life around Sangalaki but nothing there came close to the 1,523 barracuda mass hanging out at the Maratua channel. I'm glad that you liked Sangalaki though.

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

Don't get me wrong: I love Maratua as well. We saw couple of schools of barracuda and was lucky enough to see a school of eagle ray swam past us from below.

Sangalaki would've been top notch had we seen the mantas. But I really like the white sandy bottom with sunlight penetrating through the water and the marine life's colors really come out against the blue water and water sand backdrop. No many pelagic as we manage to see a zebra shark kickin' it by the sand floor. But it was great.

---------- Post added June 26th, 2013 at 11:21 AM ----------

Sorry Bora, did not mean to hi-jack this thread into Sangalaki/Maratua discussion.

Here is the petition link for you new visitors to this thread: https://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-sea-turtles-of-sangalaki

Please support the effort of saving the turtles of Sangalaki!

 

[two clown resort]

Oh..my god! I'm so angry about this! I'm signing up the petition!!!

 

[Kaltim Diver]

Just got back from a liveaboard (Tambora) cruise around Meratua, Sangalaki, Derawan etc. There is (or was a week ago) still a station on Sangalaki island, a number of people were present and collecting baby turtles, releasing them at night. They said the resort was open/available but there didn't appear to be anybody there while we visited. There were another couple of turtle research/protection stations further south, all advertising that they were joint ventures with various wildlife groups and local/national governments.


However, while diving on nearby Kakaban we heard at least three bombs and were told by Sangalaki people that the best place to dive would be in front of the island station, as fishermen/bombers were known around the other parts of the island. We had some spectacular diving but certainly noticed areas of bomb damage in some locations as well as a lot of lost net/fishing line.

During our trip we managed to see quite a few eagle rays, a number of zebra sharks (further south), even a couple of hammerheads, but zero mantas. I live not far from these islands and I'm told that the mantas are very rare now. Note - we did see quite a few turtles, and off Derawan and Meratua there were some enormous ones.

---------- Post added July 20th, 2013 at 07:46 AM ----------

Just got back from a liveaboard (Tambora) cruise around Meratua, Sangalaki, Derawan etc. There is (or was a week ago) still a station on Sangalaki island, a number of people were present and collecting baby turtles, releasing them at night. They said the resort was open/available but there didn't appear to be anybody there while we visited. There were another couple of turtle research/protection stations further south, all advertising that they were joint ventures with various wildlife groups and local/national governments.


However, while diving on nearby Kakaban we heard at least three bombs and were told by Sangalaki people that the best place to dive would be in front of the island station, as fishermen/bombers were known around the other parts of the island. We had some spectacular diving but certainly noticed areas of bomb damage in some locations as well as a lot of lost net/fishing line.

During our trip we managed to see quite a few eagle rays, a number of zebra sharks (further south), even a couple of hammerheads, but zero mantas. I live not far from these islands and I'm told that the mantas are very rare now. Note - we did see quite a few turtles, and off Derawan and Meratua there were some enormous ones.