Dear friends of the sea turtles,

The attached note was send to me by a very good friend of mine in Australia, ( Miss Susan Symons E-Mail: aratah@wxc.com.au ) who  has set up her own turtle foundation. It would be great if many of you could respond to this note.
Thank you very much.

Your support is needed!

Sangalaki island, part of the Derawan archipelago in the Berau district of East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia, contains one of the largest known nesting populations of green turtles in the Celebes Sea and sees turtles nesting all year-round. On an average Sangalaki is visited by about ten to twenty laying turtles each night all year round. Due to constant professional egg collecting on Sangalaki under annual concessions, the number of nesting has declined constantly and dramatically so that the turtle population in this area is seriously threatened.

Only recently the Bupati, head of the local government of Berau Kabupaten has taken the decision that egg collection on Sangalaki and nearby Derawan Island would be totally banned as of January 1, 2002 and it is considered to extend the protection zone to neighboring islands in the near future. This means that, in the coming year, just on Sangalaki about 0.5 million hatchlings will be born and released to the sea instead of being collected as eggs.
Despite this commendable initiative, it is still not certain that the one hundred percent protection of turtles in this area will be guaranteed in the long term. However, we find this decision of the Bupati absolutely remarkable and in order to support it against potential obstacles we believe that it deserves immediate international acknowledgement.

Therefore, we invite you all to congratulate the Bupati and the local government of Berau Kabupaten to their important decision, which could be a milestone for the protection of marine biodiversity in this area. It is important that the Bupati and the local government in Berau Kabupaten  are aware that the world is appreciating and watching the progress of their turtle management efforts.

Therefore, we ask anybody who is concerned about the protection of sea turtles in particular or the wildlife in Indonesia in general, to send a short letter or fax to the Bupati and his government to thank them for this important decision and to urge them to extend this protection to all islands in the Kabupaten as soon as possible. We are aware that there are Indonesian laws by which all sea turtles are already protected. Nevertheless, as the most important aspect seems to safeguard urgently necessary and practicable steps, we appeal to participate in this small action. The results can really justify it. We would not ask for your help if we didn't think it's a really decisive moment now.

The Bupati's name is Bapak Masdjuni, and his full address is:
Bapak Masdjuni
Bupati Berau, Tanjung Redeb
Kalimantan Timur
INDONESIA
fax +62 554 21068

Many thanks for your support in advance
Eberhard Meyer
Dr. Frank Zindel
SCHILDKROETEN-STIFTUNG
TURTLE FOUNDATION
Haupstr. 1
D-82541 Ammerland
GERMANY
tel +49 8177 926038
fax +49 8177 8439
info@turtle-foundation.org
www.turtle-foundation.org

LOMBOK ALSO NEEDS YOUR HELP

As mentioned in one of my earlier note,  a similar amount of eggs could be saved on our neighboring island of Lombok It would be great if someone can help. Please call us for assistance. Once again thank you very much for your continues support, and we look forward to welcome you to our island home. With best personal regards from the beautiful save island of Bali
Heinz von Holzen