Site Visit Conservation Partner
PT. PLN UP3B Sumatera on Mapur Island
ecology foundation/06-12-2023
The hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is one of the turtle species that was declared Critically Endangered, on the IUCN red list in 2008. Consuming turtle eggs has been a culture of the people on the coast of Mapur Island for a long time. This island is a landing place for hawksbill turtles to lay their eggs and an entry point for visits by foreign tourists from Singapore and Malaysia.
The conservation area Bintan MPA, especially in Area II, namely Mapur Island, which is the area with the most core zones which is also one of the landing areas for turtles to lay their eggs, is spread across a number of beach points on Mapur Island. Some of these beaches include Belakanf Beach, Songseng Beach, Ledang Island, and Marapas and Busung Mentigi Islands, monitoring results from turtle conservation community groups.
Until now, there is only 1 community group that routinely carries out patrols and supervision during the turtle nesting season, between April-October. This community group, which has been established since 2016, is a group supported by Ecology Foundation (YEKR) which has the skills and knowledge and is trained in the handling and protection or conservation of sea turtles through a joint program with the BPSPL Padang - MMAF. The size of the nesting area is not balanced by the group's ability to carry out patrols in an effort to protect the nesting nest.
Ecology Foundation wants to play as small a role as possible in supporting the sustainability of the Sea Turtle Conservation program on Mapur Island - Bintan Regency. In the process of this conservation program, various attention and support began to arrive from the Government, Academics, and Corporate. Apart from that, this turtle conservation program was prepared by adopting the National Action Plan (RAN) for Turtle Conservation, so that the targets of this program are expected to be used as an integrated reference.
Through the Riau Islands Provincial Government as the manager of the Bintan MPA it has prepared a Management Plan for the Bintan MPA 2023-2042, one of the short-term Program Action Plans for 2023 is to support the sustainability of the Turtle Conservation Program by making supervision and monitoring more effective and developing friendly marine tourism village destinations, wildlife and environmentally friendly.
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​One of the incentives in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) and supporting conservation programs in Bintan MPA - Mapur Island, PT. PLN Persero UP3B Sumatera UPT Pekanbaru conducted a site visit and meeting with the Village Government, community groups and NGOs to discuss the 2023 Corporate Social Responsibility Program. In this meeting we are committed to supporting effective management of conservation areas, especially turtle conservation management on Mapur Island.
Utilization opportunities will be maximum if the ecosystem and conservation target populations are maintained. Therefore, the management of the Bintan MPA is at least able to maintain resources in their last condition, that is, not allowing resources to be damaged to become worse than their last condition. However, considering that threats to these resources are expected to increase, efforts to maintain them must be accompanied by efforts to restore resources to their previous condition, which is definitely greater than their current condition.
This Conservation Program aims to make efforts to protect and sustain the life of turtles and their habitat to maintain turtle populations in the future with several efforts, including:
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Improve the survival of hatchlings in nature;
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Collecting data on nesting nests and the number of turtles laying eggs, as well as relocating turtle eggs to semi-artificial nests to improve hatchling survival;
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Collecting data on turtles caught in nets and minimize the incidence of turtles dying entangled in fishermen's fishing gear by handling them appropriately;
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Knowing turtle migration areas and nesting areas to produce policy recommendations for turtle protection efforts between countries (regions);
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Carry out guidance for coastal community groups on Mapur Island and increase awareness of the importance of protecting ecosystems and protected biota
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