Swift action saves endangered pawikan

An endangered sea turtle locally called "pawikan" nested in the sandy shore of Laiya Aplaya last Jan. 31, 2005. Since then, residents led by Barangay Captain Wivin R. Llana have been caring for the nest by setting up a bamboo fence with plastic netlon encircling the nest to prevent stray dogs and other predators from attacking the developing eggs.

The baby turtles are expected to emerge after 55 days of incubating in the warm sand. Sea turtles lay about 100 eggs in each nest, laying as much as seven times each season.

Conservation awareness of the community is very high. A training workshop on marine turtle conservation was conducted by the Pawikan Conservation Project of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the DENR at Kabayan Beach Resort just on Feb. 9-10. Participants included municipal officials and barangay captains from all 16 coastal barangays of the Municipality San Juan, Batangas.

The nesting season usually takes place from September to January. This season, almost two hundred hatchlings have been released to the sea in Laiya Aplaya. A few more hundreds have been released in the nearby barangay of Calubcub Segundo.

Since 2001, Mayor Rodolfo Manalo of San Juan has been actively involved in marine turtle conservation. The mayor, councilor Noel Pasco, chairman on the committee on agriculture and fisheries, barangay captain Wivin Llana and Fe Acompañado, municipal agriculturist, together with the DENR have tagged and released more than 20 juvenile sea turtles ("teenagers" by human standards) returned by resident fishermen.

Action plans prepared by the coastal barangay chairmen have been prepared to strengthen the effort towards conserving the endangered marine turtles in San Juan’s coast. – Benny Enriquez