A sanctuary for marine turtles

Text and photos by Henrylito D. Tacio
A long, long time ago, Punta Dumalag was an isolated island.  People had to ride an outrigger (banca) to go to the area.  In 1962, a freak storm washed-in sand to its shore that created a natural land bridge during low tide. In the late 1970s, developers came, dumped more sand and gravel and cemented the land bridge.  Today, it is now connected to Matina Aplaya.
As a result, the former island is now teeming with houses and people.  Some resorts built comes cottages near the shore.  During summer and weekends, the beach fronts are full of people.  Far from the island, you can see fishing cages.
But what the newer generations don’t know is that the entire island was — it still is! — a nesting ground of marine turtles, particularly Hawksbill.  Known in the science world as “Eretmocheyls imbricata,” it is now considered “critically endangered” because they were hunted for its “shell” which was used for guitar picks, combs and bracelets, among others.
There were also some sightings of Green Sea (“Chelonia mydas”) and Loggerhead (“Caretta caretta”) in the area.  Other marine turtles found in the country are Leatherback (“Dermocheyls coriacea”) and Olive Ridley (“Lepidochelys olivacea”).
All over the world, there are eight species of marine turtles.  The three others which are not living the Philippine waters 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.”
Aside from killing marine turtles for meat and leather and eating eggs as food and aphrodisiacs, they are also being threatened by tourism.  “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 one of their most important life cycle habitats, referring to the nesting beach.
“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.” 
The late councilor Leonardo Avila III was very much aware of this.  That was the reason why he sponsored a bill which led to the declaration of the 37 hectares of Punta Dumalag as nesting ground for marine turtles.  The government also created the Task Force Pawikan Davao, whose primary objective is to protect and conserve the marine reptiles.
Enter the Aboitiz Group, which owns eight hectares in the southeastern portion of the island.  Studies conducted showed the island its surrounding waters is home not only to Hawksbill turtle but also of the following: 29 species of trees, 5 species of birds, 16 species of fish, 6 species of sea cucumbers, 6 species of mangroves, and 5 species of seagrasses.  Coral reefs also abound between the mangroves and sea waters.
As its corporate responsibility, the power company decided to convert the place into a biodiversity learning center, which would be managed by its subsidiary, the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC).
Called Cleanergy Park (a combination of the words “clean” and “energy”), it is “anchored on our belief that we can do well by doing good, always making the right long term decisions that balance the interest of people, planet and profit,” explained the briefer.
One of its main objectives is to save the critically-endangered marine turtles, locally known as “pawikan.”  “They are on the verge of extinction because of habitat loss due to coastal development and human settlement,” said Fermin Edillon, the community relations officer of DLPC.
The 2-kilometer stretch of white sand peninsula of Punta Dumalag was once called the Marine Turtle Sanctuary.  It is part of the 37-hectare Marine Protected Area that was established through Council Resolution No. 02504-03.  Swimming and fishing are not allowed in the area.
Rodolfo Manib, Jr., the 51-year-old DLPC caretaker, grew up in the area. He said that when he was still young, he used to see a lot of marine turtles nesting the beach fronts.  Some children took these eggs to their homes and cooked them.
This was in the past.  Today, whenever he sees a marine turtle laying eggs, he tries not to disturb it.  Once the mother is gone, he carefully handpicks the eggs and transfers them to higher area so the seawater could not reach the eggs.  The hatching area is also surrounded with screen to keep away natural predators.
Once the eggs are hatched, the hatchlings are released into the sea.  Only the sides are dug; the hatchlings are allowed to emerge and eventually crawl towards the shoreline.  “Only one hatchling survives out of every 100 to become an adult,” says Edillon. 
Imprinting purposes is the reason cited why the hatchlings are not helped when they emerge from the nest and crawl towards the sea. “The hatchlings make an imprint, which is called magnetic field imprinting in their nest and in the sand, and another imprinting called chemical imprinting in the sea. This enables them to identify the area of the nest where they were laid, and after 20 to 25 years, the surviving one percent of these hatchlings will come back here to lay eggs,” Edillon was once quoted as saying.
The hatching area is not far from the turtle sanctuary view deck, where you could see the white sand beach fronts.  A board walk is built on top of the mangrove areas.  “When we built the boardwalk, no mangrove tree was cut,” Edillon says.
For children, who has low span of attention, a park is built for them.  “Ninety percent of all the materials used in our building here come from electric posts that were discarded already,” Edillon says. 
There is also a botanical garden where seedlings of various species of mangroves are grown.  Another point of interest: the weather station which regularly monitor the weather conditions.
Edillon says the park is open to the public for free but only on appointment basis with DLPC.  “We built this for the public but since this is a sanctuary at the same time, we want to limit the number of people who come on a given day,” he explains.
The Philippines is a signatory of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and implements the Pawikan Conservation Project throughout the country through the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Since 2001, hunting, sale and killing of marine turtles have been banned in the country.
But despite sincere efforts made by the local and national government and some environmentalist groups to save marine turtles from disappearing in Philippine waters, 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.”