Philippines townsfolk protect sea turtles

Townsfolk find connection between ‘pawikan,’ environment
Marlon Alexander Luistro, Philippine Daily Inquirer 2 Jan 08;

Sea turtles are essential to marine life since some of their species feed on jellyfish, algae and sea grass beds. “When there’s plenty of jellyfish, there would be less fish and it would no longer be desirable for someone to swim in the sea”

MANILA, Philippines – The people of San Juan, Batangas, weren’t able to make the connection between sea turtles, or pawikan, with a balanced ecology until the marine creatures made the town’s beaches a nesting place.

“Having a pawikan (around) is a manifestation of a balanced marine ecosystem,” said Ramon Flores whose group, Mother Earth, helped organize the release of 31 pawikan hatchlings into the Tayabas Bay on Dec. 15.

At about 5 p.m. of that day, residents of the town and youth leaders of Barangay Pinagbayanan, where the sea turtles laid eggs, released the hatchlings into the bay.

Rowena Sayat, a village resident who kept watch over the pawikan eggs, said she first found the hatched turtles at 3 a.m. on Dec. 13.

She said it took the turtle eggs at least 59 days to hatch and come off the sand.

Sayat is among the new recruits to a project that Flores’ Mother Earth has put together and which it calls Pawikan Pauwiin sa Karagatan (Return Pawikan to the Sea).

It seeks to preserve the country’s sea turtle population by sending sea turtles that stray into populated beaches, or lay eggs in these areas, back to where they belong.

Flores said ideally, pawikan hatchlings should be released within 12 hours to ensure their survival.

But Flores said his group bent the rules a little to invite more San Juan residents to a small ceremony of releasing the pawikans so the people could “learn the significance of preserving them.”

Yearly, the pawikan’s nesting period occurs from September to February, and depending on weather conditions, the pawikan eggs are expected to hatch from 45 to 60 days, he said.

Endangered

Before the turtles were released, Flores first gave a lecture to participants on the importance of preserving the pawikan in San Juan.

He said the sea turtles are essential to marine life since some of their species feed on jellyfish, algae and sea grass beds.

“When there’s plenty of jellyfish, there would be less fish and it would no longer be desirable for someone to swim in the sea,” he said in an interview, hours before the release.

Flores explained that there are four remaining pawikan nests in San Juan town, two each in Barangay Catmon and Barangay Pinagbayanan.

He expects the eggs in Pinagbayanan to hatch in the third week of December while those in Catmon in the middle of February.

Balayan sightings

Earlier, in the evening of Dec. 14, two fishermen in Barangay 9 in the town of Balayan found a sea turtle, measuring around 63 x 63 centimeters, which they suspected had formed a nest and laid eggs off the Balayan Bay coast.

Vilmor Gadon, president of the Anak Balayan (Ang Nagkakaisang Mamamayang Kostal ng Balayan), said residents Roco Oresa and Rico Bagay found the turtle at about 8 p.m.

The sighting was reported at least two days after the release of the 31 pawikan hatchlings at the Tayabas Bay.

Gadon identified the turtle species as Olive Ridley, which usually lays about 105 to 120 eggs in the cold months of September to February.

“We think that the turtle had just laid eggs but she got disturbed,” Gadon said in a phone interview.

He was referring to past experiences of people living in the Balayan Bay coast who observed that the pawikans form their nests anywhere from November and December.

Aside from Barangay 9, pawikan sightings have also been reported in the coastal villages of Palicpican, Barangay 10 and Sampica in Balayan.

He said their group would release the turtle after proper documentation and placing of tags by the Balayan Municipal Fishery Technologist and the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office-Calaca.

Gadon, however, said the trade of turtle eggs and meat threaten the pawikan population in the bay area.

Awareness

In the town of San Juan, the pawikan population has been declining since the 1970s due to the collection and trade of eggs which are being sold for P3 per piece.

Thanks to heightened public awareness and education, however, there may be hope for these sea creatures to multiply anew.

Marcel de Chavez, San Juan’s Bantay Dagat chair, said pawikan conservation has greatly helped small fishermen in the town.

“They are now able to catch 50 kilograms of assorted fish in the sea daily compared to a meager two kilograms in the 1990s,” De Chavez added.

“I’ve been living for 25 years here but it is only now that I’ve learned the importance of pawikan in sea life,” said 49-year-old Nonong Perpetua of Barangay Pinagbayanan in an interview.

Christia de Torres, a 15-year-old student from Joseph Marello Institute who joined the release in the same village, said youth leaders like her could help save the pawikans by monitoring their existing nests.

She vowed to impart the knowledge she acquired from Flores to the fishermen and other people in the community.

“Before, we don’t care about them. Now, if ever I will hear stories that a pawikan has been caught, I will tell the people involved to set them free,” Perpetua added.

Mother Earth’s project also seeks to make San Juan a model town that could contribute to the efforts of other local government units in the country in conserving turtles.

Endangered

Of the world’s seven pawikan species, five can be found in the Philippines.

Three of the country’s five pawikan species can be seen in San Juan—Hawksbill Turtle, Green Turtle, and Olive Ridley Turtle, which nest on the town’s sandy areas near the Tayabas Bay.

All three species are listed under Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species.

This means that the “international commercial trade of these species are prohibited” and only “limited exchanges for scientific purposes are allowed.”

The Philippine Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, or RA 9147, prohibits the hunting, selling and killing, as well as collecting, of the eggs of endangered species like pawikan.