50 baby sea turtles released to sea in Calapan City

LGU officials, police, Bantay Dagat and villagers in the City of Calapan release some 50 Olive Ridley sea turtles on Saturday, Feb. 26; back to the sea after they hatched on the shores there. Photo from Oriental Mindoro Maritime Police

CITY OF CALAPAN — At lest 50 newly-hatched Olive Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) were released to the sea in Barangay (village) Lazareto in this city on Saturday afternoon.

The Calapan’s Fishery Management Office (FMO) under the city’s environment and natural resources office, Baltazar Alfante, a fisher, in Sitio (sub-village) Silangan, saw the mother turtle laying eggs near his house in December 31 last year.

Alfante reported the sighting to the FMO Bantay Dagat (fish warden).

The Maritime police built a fence around the eggs “to help the sea turtle mothers and their offspring increase their chances of survival.”

The sea turtles, locally called “pawikan,” were released at about 5:30 p.m., said Marius Panahon, technical officer at the city fisheries office.

Among those who helped in the release of the hatchlings were the village officials, Bantay Dagat and staff from the city’s FMO and Oriental Mindoro Maritime police.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 consider the pawikan as an endangered species.

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

/MUF