By Henrylito D. Tacio
It’s more fun in the Philippines, goes the slogan of the Department of Tourism. But for endangered marine turtles, it’s anything but fun.
“Tourism in natural places that does not take into account the effect they have to the environment is the threat,” explained Dr. Arnel “AA” Yaptinchay, founder and director of the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines. “In the Philippines, where it seems that every inch of our beaches will soon be developed for tourism, this will become a big threat for marine turtles.”
According to Dr. Yaptinchay, development of the coast where buildings are to be constructed will displace marine turtles from the nesting beach, one of their most important life cycle habitats.
“Lights, infrastructure, noise, domestic animals, and pollution will not only disturb those nesting females but also their hatchlings,” he said. “Marine turtles will not nest when disturbed.”
Marine turtles spend most of their life in the sea and get all the things they need there. They even mate in the sea. But when the time comes to lay their eggs, the females return to shore, usually in the same place where they were hatched.
“If you imagine a first-time nester approaching its place of birth, how much do you think of its birth place or nesting beach remains over the last 35-50 years?” Dr. Yaptinchay asked. “I would guess there would be very little space left for it to nest and enough disturbance developed to shoo it away. We are preventing them from fulfilling their life purpose. For me this is very tragic.”
In some instances, some tourism facilities view marine turtles as attractions. “This is fine if you view marine turtles from a distance, but most (beach owners) are greedy and would take a turtle and put it in a tank for secured viewing for their guests,” Dr. Yaptinchay said.
But what he considered as worrisome is when beach owners would tie the turtle to a tree. “This has happened and is still happening,” he said.
Those resorts located in islands sometimes think they are helping marine turtles by keeping hatchlings in containers and allowing them to grow for a few months before releasing them into the open sea.
“What they do not realize is that they have just disrupted the whole life cycle of the turtles,” Dr. Yaptinchay said. “Hatchlings are supposed to be in open pelagic waters for the first decade of their lives. Again an important phase in their lives is affected.”
However, Dr. Yaptinchay believes there are ways to develop tourism without compromising the integrity of the environment. “Technology and knowledge already exist,” he said. “We just need to learn to give the environment more importance than the money we earn.”
According to Dr. Yaptinchay, his organization is working with the tourism department in developing interaction guidelines for tourists, resorts, and dive operators to prevent disturbance to marine turtles.
Pollution
Marine turtles were once seen in abundance in the shallow waters of Manila. But toxic wastes flowing from the Pasig River, ocean-going vessels plying the bay, and the government’s reclamation projects had long ago driven the marine turtles away. Pollution is one of the prime factors why the population of marine turtles is dwindling rapidly in the country.
Many marine turtles die after eating discarded plastic bags. “Plastics are the scourge of our seas,” said Lily Venizelos, who was named by the United Nations Environment Program as one of the recipients of the Global-500 roll of honor for her efforts to save the turtles. “They take over 450 years to degrade. The impact of small pieces of garbage, like foil sweet and cigarette wrappers, plastic bottle caps, straws, string, and security tabs are catastrophic to marine wildlife when swallowed. A transparent plastic bag looks like jellyfish to a hungry turtle, her favorite food. By eating it she dies a slow painful death through blockage of her intestine, or by suffocation.”
These beautiful, migratory reptiles face danger from the day they are born (they are hunted by monitor lizards or bayawak, dogs, and ghost crabs). Hatchlings, being inexperienced feeders, ingest plastic waste around them. They become so buoyant by consuming plastics that, unable to dive for food, they starve.
Dynamite fishing and the use of trawl nets where turtles abound have also threatened the marine turtles. Ditto for the rapid development of beach resorts for the tourism industry as these destroy the nesting beaches of marine turtles. “Marine turtle prefers isolated islands with warm sandy beaches where it lays an average of 101 eggs two to five times a year,” said Rhodora De Veyra, a biologist of the Pawikan Conservation Project. “Its biological clock dictates that it should lay its eggs only in the dark. But the onslaught of their nesting and feeding grounds make these biological activities difficult.”
Endangered
Marine turtles belong to the order Chelonia, an order of reptiles that has existed and flourished since prehistory with very little change in their basic structure. They are locally known as “pawikan.”
Of the eight species of marine turtles known to man, five of them can be found in the Philippines. These are the Green Sea (“Chelonia mydas”), Hawksbill (“Eretmochelys imbricate”), Loggerhead (“Caretta caretta”), Olive Ridley (“Lepidochelys olivacea”), and Leatherback (“Dermocheyls coriacea”).
The three others are the Kemp’s Ridley (“Lepidochelys kempi”), Flatback (“Chelonia depressa”), and Black Sea (“Chelonia agassizi”).
Unfortunately, all eight species are listed under the Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which means the trade of these species and subspecies is “strictly prohibited except for educational, scientific, or research and study purposes.”
The Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has also classified the eight species as endangered. This is so because “their populations are in danger of extinction and whose survival is unlikely if the causal factors continue to operate.”
Since 2001, hunting, sale, and killing of marine turtles have been banned in the Philippines. The Wildlife Conservation Act, or Republic Act No. 9147, penalizes violators with a fine of up to P100,000 and one year in jail.
Despite sincere efforts by the government and some environmentalist groups to save marine turtles from extinction, the decimation of the endangered species continues unabated.
“All of the species found in our country are endangered except for the Hawksbill which is critically endangered,” Dr. Yaptinchay said. “The only sure thing is that marine turtle populations are under tremendous threats and if these are not stopped, extinction is imminent.”
Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources believes so, too.
“Unless we, Filipinos, seriously take on the task of protecting the much endangered marine turtles, these ancient creatures will soon be gone (from our waters),” Haribon, which is regarded as a pioneer of the environmental movement in the Philippines, said in a statement.
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