Two recent busts of turtle-smuggling attempts in Bali highlight how pervasive the dangerous trade may be.
What's happening?
Mongabay reported that twice so far this year, Indonesian police have recovered live sea turtles that were in the process of being illegally smuggled.
Authorities rescued 29 green sea turtles in Bali's district of Jembrana on January 12. Unfortunately, five of the animals later died.
Police said they thwarted an attempt to trade 23 additional turtles in the village of Pemuteran less than two weeks later.
"The number of turtles smuggled shows that the main purpose isn't just for ceremonies, it's to meet greater consumption in the market," Ranny R. Yuneni of the World Wildlife Fund told Mongabay.
As of late February, officials said they were still working to identify the would-be buyers of the animals.
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Why is sea turtle smuggling a concern?
Seven species of sea turtles exist globally, with Indonesian waters being home to six of them. Of the seven total species, three are classified as endangered, two critically.
Poaching and smuggling are among the biggest threats to sea turtles. The World Wildlife Fund has noted that tens of thousands "are lost each year to overharvesting and illegal trade." In cases where wildlife is successfully smuggled to settings where they are not native, we can also see how invasive species pose additional threats to biodiversity and to fragile ecosystems that rely on each member for stability.
Climate-related concerns are also major risks to sea turtle populations. Pollution in the ocean poses a constant health hazard to the animals, and a warming climate could destroy their ability to reproduce. One study showed that when temperatures rise, almost all green sea turtles in Australia are born female.
What's being done to help sea turtles?
Poaching and smuggling sea turtles have been illegal in Indonesia since 1990. The protection of turtles was subsequently reinforced by 2018 environmental regulations in the country.
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Turtle meat has historically been important to Hindus in Bali for its ceremonial use, with Hinduism being the island's most practiced religion. In 2005, though, Hindu priests met to work toward "ending the sacrifice of turtles for meat in religious ceremonies," Mongabay reported.
Efforts are ongoing to protect turtles in other parts of the world as well. In the United States, groups have petitioned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare the diamondback terrapin an endangered species. And conservation efforts in Bangladesh have led to a record number of olive ridley turtle eggs being laid.
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