Every year, since 1970, the world celebrates Earth Day. Today, every April 22, more than a billion people join the event to protect the planet from things like pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity decimation.
This year, in time for Earth Day celebration, the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park received a female Hawksbill marine turtle that was turned over to them at Sitio Punta Dumalag, Matina Aplaya in Davao City.
The endangered marine turtle, locally called pawikan, was reportedly found floating and weak in a fish trap. It was rescued by fisherfolks led by Kagawad Ronel P. Simo in the sea near Purok Libra, Sitio Tambangan, Lasang.
Davao Light and Power Co., Inc. (Davao Light) and its social development arm Aboitiz park’s pawikan rescue center facility. The site is part of the 37-hectare marine protected area that was established through Council Resolution No. 02504-03 declaring the area as a nesting ground for Hawksbill turtles.
“Davao City is truly blessed to be a nesting site of marine turtles, which is a keystone species in maintaining the balance in our ecosystem,” said then city mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio after signing the Memorandum of Agreement between Aboitiz and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the city government in the establishment of the Pawikan Sanctuary.
“It is clear that the government and the private sector must work together to protect these endangered animals before it becomes too late,” Duterte, who is now the vice president of the Philippines, added.
The Cleanergy Park has a temporary shelter, clinic, laboratory, observation deck, boardwalks and other facilities for the rescue, rehabilitation, conservation, protection and care of marine turtles. This supports the multi-sectoral effort of “pursuing sustainable development within the context of a balanced ecology.”
Currently, there are seven rescued marine turtles under the care of Aboitiz Cleanergy Park. In coordination with the regional office of DENR, they are provided with veterinary care and are being observed at the facility until they are fully recovered and can be released back into the wild. Since 2015, the park has released over 7,000 hatchlings.
Marine turtles, which belong to a group of reptiles that have existed and flourished since prehistory with very little change in their basic structure, are one of the longest-lived creatures Earth has ever known and even outlived dinosaurs.
Of the seven marine turtle species known to man, five of them are found in the Philippines and all of them are considered “threatened species,” according to the Switzerland-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This means they are vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
IUCN, the leading organization in determining if a species can be considered threatened or not, uses the following criteria for a threatened species: population size decline, number of mature individuals, geographic range, and statistical analysis.
The identified five species found in the country are Green Sea turtle (known in the science world as Chelonia mydas), Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), Leatherback turtle (Dermocheyls coriacea), Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta).
Most of the marine turtles in the Philippines are found in Baguan, Taganak, Lihiman, Boan, Langaan, and the Great Bakkungan, which are part of the so-called Turtle Islands. In the olden times, these islands used to be a favorite weekend destination of British excursionists and other nationals from North Borneo (now Sabah).
But marine turtles can also be found in other parts of the country.
The five species mentioned earlier are listed under the Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which means the trade of these marine turtles and its and subspecies is strictly “prohibited except for educational, scientific or research and study purposes.”
“All of the species found in our country are endangered except for the hawksbill turtle, which is critically endangered,” said Dr. Arnel “AA” Yaptinchay, founder and director of the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines (MWWP), a non-government organization advocating for the conservation and protection of marine wildlife and their habitats.
“The only sure thing is that marine turtle populations are under tremendous threats. If these are not stopped, extinction is imminent,” he deplored.
According to MWWP, threats – whether man-made or not – impact marine turtles at all life-stages from eggs to adults. “It is impossible to prevent natural predation, mortalities due to natural causes, or changes to the environment brought about by climate change,” it said. “But reducing or even eliminating human-caused threats is possible.”
In the past and even until today, the biggest threat comes from harvesting of eggs, juveniles and adults. “Marine turtles are hunted for meat and leather; their eggs are taken for food and aphrodisiacs,” Haribon said.
Some years back, there was a news report stating that diners flocked to a makeshift eatery somewhere in Pasil, Cebu City to eat the stewed pawikan. Customers said the pawikan meat tastes like beef.
“Once you get a taste of this, you’ll surely come back here frequently,” one of the vendors was quoted as saying by Cebu Daily News. Aside from its distinct taste, most customers believe the exotic dish – just like the pawikan eggs – is an aphrodisiac.
But Filipinos are not the only perpetrators. In an article published in Reptile Magazine, John B. Virata wrote: “China’s demand for sea turtle soup, turtle eggs, shells, and turtle bones ground up for use in medicine has caused Chinese fishermen to travel up to 700 miles off mainland China to hunt sea turtles in Philippine waters.”
The degradation of their habitat has also contributed to the decimation of marine turtles in the country. The ruin of the territories results from increased effluent and contamination from coastal development, construction of marinas, increased boat traffic, and harvest of near-shore marine algae resources.
Marine turtles are also affected by plastics. About 20% – or half a million tons – of the 2.7 million tons of plastic waste the Philippines generates annually leaks into the oceans, according to the 2015 report on plastic pollution by the Ocean Conservancy.
“Plastics endanger marine life and other animals, because they can mistake a piece of plastic for food when it isn’t,” a study pointed out. After eating plastic, they starve and die. Another study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests that ingesting even a single piece of plastic can be deadly for these marine animals.
Marine turtles are also being threatened by climate change. “Potential impacts of global warming, such as projected sea level rise, can lead to shoreline erosion of small, low-lying tropical islands,” MWWP says. “Waves running up the shore during storms will wet the nests and increase egg mortalities at rookeries in these small islands, possibly decreasing the overall reproductive success of the marine turtle population.”
Accordig to the National Ocean Service (NOS) of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it takes 20-30 years for a marine turtle to reach sexual maturity. When a female is ready to lay eggs, she returns to the nesting beach where she was born, even if she has not been there for 30 years! Some females next every year until the age of 80.
Marine biologists say marine turtle eggs must incubate in moist sand. It is for this reason why some beaches around the tropical and temperate areas are visited, mostly at night, by adult sea turtles who come ashore to dig a nest chamber, where they deposit their eggs.
Once the eggs are deposited, the female marine turtle just leaves the eggs to fend for themselves. Hatching can take one day to four days for the baby turtles to break through the eggshell and emerge from the egg. Once they are fully out from the eggshells, they are ready for release, usually within 24 hours.
For every 1,000 hatchlings released in the open sea, only one survives. “On the beach, hatchlings must escape natural predators like birds and crabs to make it to the sea,” NOS says. “Once in the water, hatchlings are consumed by seabirds and fish.”
The Philippines, a CITES signatory, implemented the Pawikan Conservation Project nationwide through the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (now known as Biodiversity Management Bureau) of the DENR. Since 2001, hunting, sale and killing of marine turtles have been banned in the country.
Marine turtles are the contemporaries of the dinosaurs. These ancient creatures have been around for about 110 million years. Their natural lifespan is estimated to be from 50 to 100 years.
