February 17, 2006
turtle nest found in burgos town
Like new parents expecting the birth of their first child, residents of the picturesque Ilio-iloi village in western Pangasinan town Burgos, are excitedly awaiting the hatching of sea turtle eggs laid on their seashore.
The eggs were “discovered” by Tony de Guzman, a Bantay Dagat (sea guard) volunteer, on the morning of January 28 after he saw “marks” on the sand made by the sea turtle where it deposited the eggs in sub-village Cabangaoan.
Ava Sharon Batay-an of the Tanggol Kalikasan, an environmental non government organization, said the eggs could have been laid on the night of January 27 or dawn of January 28.
Out of curiosity, de Guzman and other Bantay Dagat volunteers dug the area and found that the area was a turtle nest. They touched the eggs but returned them to the nest which was in front of the Bantay Dagat detachment. They have enclosed the nest.
“It’s interesting that the sea turtle laid its eggs in front of the detachment. It’s as if it knew the eggs would be safe there,” Batay-an told the Inquirer.
The Bantay Dagat volunteers who dug the nest estimated that there were around100 eggs there.
This is the first time that the residents saw turtle eggs laid in their beach, although three of such sea creatures have been intercepted there by the municipal agriculture office in coordination with the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Alaminos City.
Two leatherback sea turtles, were caught in Sitio (sub-village) Pao by a fisherman’s net in 2000. A green turtle was caught in this Sitio Cabangaoan on July 2, 2002.
On December 10, 2003, an Oliva Ridley species was about to lay eggs in the area but was unfortunately caught by a fisherman, Batay-an said, quoting Nicanor C. Braga, municipal agriculture technologist and municipal agriculturist Eufemia E. Bongar.
But times, and the mindsets of residents, must been changed. Upon seeing the sea turtle eggs, they got excited and decided to protect them, Batay-an said.
“The residents are now concerned about protecting their marine environment. This can be seen by their adherence to anti-illegal fishing campaign of Mayor Domingo Doctor. Some of the community members are members of the Bantay-Dagat team. They also stopped using illegal fishing methods,” Batay-an told the Inquirer.
She added that the LGU plans to create awareness among the residents through educational campaign regarding capture of sea turtles and collecting eggs of sea turtles. It plans to declare the area as a Wildlife Marine Sanctuary but may not be able to do so because of the established resort facilities in the area. But they will look into other options.
Many are waiting for the time when the eggs will hatch which, according to literatures, will be about 45 days in countries with warm climate, after being laid.
Members of the Tanggol Kalikasan, together with the community folk and local government units, will be at the place when the eggs are expected to hatch together with the community and LGU heads.
The Tanggol Kalikasan started working in Burgos last year when it launched the Multi-Partnership Mangrove Rehabilitation Project of Dasol Bay (with the municipality of Dasol as primary project area and the municipalities of Infanta and Burgos as expansion areas).
“The LGU is already very supportive of Bantay Dagat operations so our assistance will mainly be on other aspects that they lack - i.e. capacity building for communities, technical assistance on mangrove plantation, legal assistance among others,” Batay-an said.
