Jakarta (ANTARA) - State-run oil company PT Pertamina (Persero) released 206 Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) hatchlings into their habitat on Sodong Beach, Cilacap, Central Java.

A spokesperson of Pertamina's central Java marketing region Brasto Galih Nugroho noted that sea turtle conservation was part of the company's commitment to preserving the environment in its operational regions.

"We are not only partaking in the development of conservation infrastructure, but we are also developing a sustainable program. We design an education system on conservation," Nugroho noted in a statement here on Wednesday.

From 2019 until now, Pertamina and the Nagaraja Sea Turtle Conservation Community have released 444 sea turtle hatchlings.

The sea turtle conservation program was a collaboration between operation units under the central Java marketing region -- Fuel Terminal Maos, Fuel Terminal Lomanis and Integrated Terminal Cilacap -- in cooperation with the Nagaraja conservation community.

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Head of the Central Java Natural Conservation Agency (BKSDA) Darmanto stated that the Olive Ridley sea turtle is one of the protected species in Indonesia.

Darmanto has called on people to help preserve the turtle habitat by not consuming their eggs and not littering the beach.

Olive Ridley turtle is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world. It is found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The turtles are best known for their synchronized nesting in mass numbers. Females return to the same beach from where they hatched, to lay their eggs. They lay their eggs in conical nests about 45 cm deep, which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.

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Translator: Sugiharto P, Sri Haryati
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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