Conservation Of The Asiatic Soft-Shell Turtle Amyda Cartilaginea (Boddaert, 1770) In The Belawa Village, Lemah Abang District, Cirebon, West Java

Abstract

Asian soft-shell turtle (Amyda cartilaginea Boddaert,1770) has been considered as sacred turtle by the community of Belawa Village. In the village, they are found in the irrigation channels and fish ponds, as well as in special holding ponds in Cikuya recreation area built by the community. In 2010 a disease outbreak caused by bacteria had caused mass deaths of turtles in the holding ponds. Two years has passed since the outbreaks, and the number of the survived A. cartilaginea is not known. This study aimed to obtain data on recent population of A. cartilaginea, activity patterns and time allocation and management efforts and public perception of the existence A. cartilaginea in the Belawa Village. The study was conducted on March-May 2012, by inventory of turtles population occuring in water bodies in the village. Management efforts and public perception information was obtained by interview and questionnaires. Result of census found 177 A. cartilaginea in Belawa Village mostly concentrated at the holding pond at Cikuya recreation area with a complete structure of the hatchlings, adolescents, young adults and adults. Sex ratio of adults was 1:2,22 and young adults was 1:0,67. A. cartilaginea is usually stay inside mud in the mud and rest at night until noon and will actively breathe and swim in the afternoon. They allocated more time to stay in the mud as much as 54.196%. Missmanagement of A. cartilaginea by holding almost all population in the community’s pond has threathened the population of A. cartilaginea in Belawa Village. Fortunately, the people of Belawa Village have positive perception that A. cartilaginea is a sacred animal and know that is existence in an alarming situation.