DENR to study crocodile population in Agusan

MANILA, Philippines - To be able to effectively manage and protect crocodiles, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it will conduct a study that will focus on the reptile’s population and distribution in the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWS) in the CARAGA region.

“This study is going to be scientific, and we will be tapping experts not only from the DENR but also from other stakeholder groups. This study will, hopefully, provide us with the necessary baseline information on the abundance and area of concentration of crocodiles within the marsh, from which we will base our short-term and long-term management program for the crocodiles in the Agusan- Marsh,” DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said.

The scientific study is set to start in November and is expected to be completed by April 2012. Experts from the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) of the AMWS, local academic institutions, non-government organizations, and the Crocodylus Porosus Philippines, Inc. (CPPI) will assist the DENR in the study.

The CPPI is a private organization of six legitimate crocodile breeders in the country, who source their stock from the DENR-managed Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center, formerly known as the Crocodile Farming Institute.

The Agusan Marsh, with an area covering 14,836 hectares, is the largest freshwater wetland in the Philippines and is said to hold the country’s largest remaining population of saltwater crocodile and freshwater crocodile.