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urtle conservationists in Perancak village, Jembrana, are anxious as their cooperation in education and turtle conservation with ProFauna Indonesia has ended with a dispute.

In Bali, Perancak has the largest number of turtles laying eggs, especially between April and September.

Both sides have confirmed that the cooperation termination was due to the conservationists'€™ move to pay for eggs local residents found. The eggs were later hatched in a safe environment under the care of the conservationists.

According to ProFauna, the amount of money the Kurma Asih conservation group offered for every turtle egg had made locals compete to find them. Unfortunately, this was being done carelessly, including using motorcycles, thus disturbing the turtles.

Late last month, ProFauna'€™s logo was removed from the village banners, leaving only the signs of other groups.

Wayan Anom Pastika Jaya, one of the activists from Kurma Asih group, expressed his disappointment over the cooperation termination.

'€œThey said we paid locals for turtle eggs,'€ he said. '€œWell, if we didn'€™t buy the eggs locals offered, they'€™d sell them to others or consume them.'€

If the eggs the residents saved were not taken, Anom said the turtle population would drop significantly as only a small number of tukik (baby turtles) could be released into open water.

ProFauna had assisted Kurma Asih to conserve turtles at Perancak Beach since October 2012. The form of cooperation varied, such as educating locals to build their awareness on the importance of conserving this particular animal.

Kurma Asih was founded in 1997 and has been actively saving turtles along the Perancak coast since then, relocating eggs to safer places and releasing baby turtles to the waters.

Eggs hatched in a seminatural way have been increasing year by year, from four nests in 1997 to 455 nests with 36,400 eggs in 2013.

According to Anom, the understanding and strategies of the conservationists and ProFauna differed, and unfortunately this could not be resolved.

'€œThey should have given us a solution so that the conservation program could go on,'€ Anom said.

Currently, locals are constructing basins to contain the tukik with assistance from some private companies. Yet, Kurma Asih is still facing difficulties to financially compensate the locals for the eggs that have been saved.

The turtle eggs are of several species, including olive ridley, hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles, with the majority being olive ridley. By 2013, more than 200,000 baby olive ridleys had been released.

Bayu Sandi, ProFauna Indonesia campaign officer, said his side had been discussing the disputes with Kurma Asih since last year but had found no solution.

Bayu mentioned that two discussions took place on Nov. 28 and Dec. 3, but no deal was made; hence both sides resorted to terminating the cooperation.

ProFauna had thus far assisted with technical, as well as financial, aspects, including inviting foreign volunteers.

'€œThe volunteering was expected to entice more volunteers and tourists to promote Perancak,'€ he said.

ProFauna insisted that conservation programs must be conducted according to standards and it prohibits egg trading.

Perancak is included in Jembrana'€™s water conservation zone (KKP) due to its rich fisheries, turtle nests and marine life.