54 baby sea turtles released back to sea in Puerto Princesa City

54 olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) hatchlings were released into the ocean on Saturday Puerto Princesa City by the Palawan Medical Society (PMS) to increase awareness and participation in environmental protection. The olive ridley sea turtles have been classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Photos contributed by Johann Fabello

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines —Fifty-four olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) hatchlings were released into the ocean on Saturday, in Barangay Simpocan, a coastal village in this city.

Dr. Paul Saludez, president of the Palawan Medical Society (PMS), said this was the second activity of the medical organization to increase awareness and participation in environmental protection.

“We are hoping to sustain these efforts by involving Palawenyo doctors and their families to pass on the idea of protecting wildlife,” Saludez said.

The activity was done in partnership with the Committee on Environmental Protection of the Palawan Medical Society, and the Medical Staff Organization (MSO) of the MMG-PPC Cooperative Hospital.

The medical group, during their inaugural advocacy in 2020, had also released some 73 baby sea turtles.

Baby sea turtles are believed to undergo “natal homing,” a critical period of imprinting on the magnetic field of their “home areas” and then use this information to return as their breeding ground as adults years later, according to a scientific study published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2008.

Olive ridley sea turtles have been classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and are listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).

/MUF