500 Baby Turtles Released into the Ocean at Kuta Beach

500 olive ridley turtle hatchlings (Lepidochelys olivacea) were released into the ocean at Kuta Beach on 29 July.

Hundreds of foreign tourists took part in the release, while the Kuta Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center had raised the hatchlings from eggs.

Hatchling releases take place throughout the nesting season, from May to October. The same number of hatchlings were released there on the tenth of July, and a hundred were released on 23 May.

Volunteers have run the Kuta Beach turtle conservation group for 26 years. Its head, I Gusti Ngurah Krishna, says that only around one hatchling in a thousand survives to adulthood, while the number of turtles coming ashore to lay eggs at Kuta Beach has fallen by about 75 percent over the past year.

He attributes this to coastal erosion, rubbish in the ocean and human activity on the beach.

The olive ridley turtle is classified as a vulnerable species. In addition to Kuta, it lays eggs in Bali in Serangan, Saba and the Sanur area.

Sources: ANTARA Bali, Infobalinetizen, Indo Maritim