Bacterial Abundance from Semi-natural Hatching Nest of Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys Olivacea) in Banyuwangi East Java

Olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is one of the endangered sea turtle species that live in Indonesian waters. The current population of olive ridley sea turtle continues to decline caused by number of factors. One of the contributing factors is the presence of contaminant microbes in turtle eggs which have important role in declining the percentage of eggs hatching success. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of microorganism infection as major factor which decreasing the egg hatching success at the olive ridley turtle conservation area in Banyuwangi coastal area, Indonesia. The microbial contaminants detection was carried out on the eggs which fail to hatch and sand at the semi-natural hatching nest. A total of 255 eggs were divided equally and incubated in three different nest area with 40, 60, and 80 cm depths respectively. The results showed that the Gram-negative microorganisms were from the coliform bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Proteus spp., and Salmonella spp. Meanwhile, the Gram-positive microorganisms were dominated by Bacillus spp. and Staphylococcus aureus. The hatching success rate was 89.4% in 80 cm depth, 62.3% in 60 cm depth and 25.8% in 40 cm depth respectively. The contaminant microorganism might reduce the hatching success, and moreover, the semi-natural hatching nest needs regular sand removals and replacement with new sand to sterilize the contaminant of microorganism. Present suggestion in this study also aimed to increase the hatchery success and generally support the conservation program in sea turtle as endangered species.