First, green turtles are big. Imagine crawling on your belly, dragging a couple of hundred kilos of weight, digging a pit with nothing but your hands and feet while maintaining a prostrate position and laying eggs. To complicate matters, mama turtle is probably having an increasingly difficult time finding a suitable mate. No, not because the females are getting more selective, but because green turtles are becoming more rare. Despite the fact that green turtles and their ancestors have probably been around and doing quite well for about 250 million years, they have in recent years become what's fashionably labeled as an Endangered Species.
People hunt green turtles and their brethren for their shells, meat, skin and eggs.
While this decree applies to many species, one of the primary beneficiaries of this new legislation will hopefully be the green turtle. Behind the image of an idyllic tourist getaway, Bali has been a major center of trade in sea turtles. With local turtle populations severely depleted, Balinese turtle poachers have been plying neighbouring waters to secure thousands of turtles each year for consumption. Legislation is only the first step, as compliance and enforcement are always difficult to achieve. However, positive signs are emerging.