Ten Green Turtles Swims Free In Quezon

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/
By: Delfin Mallari Jr.
INQUIRER.net

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Ten marine turtles were released back into the sea in Quezon province since last week, an environmentalist group said Monday.

Zeny Bernal, marine program officer of Tanggol Kalikasan-Southern Tagalog, an environment protection watchdog based here, said the gentle “green turtles” (Chelonia mydas agassizii) which got entangled in fish cages in the area were released sea in Lamon Bay fronting Alabat Island.

On Monday morning, Bernal said fishermen on the island discovered two dead turtles and four live ones, the biggest with a carapace measuring 101 centimeters long and 95 centimeters wide.

“The live turtles were immediately freed after attaching monitoring tags” to the shell of the turtles while the dead were buried,” Bernal told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The green turtle is a large, weighty sea reptile with a wide, smooth carapace, or shell. Weighing up to 700 pounds (317.5 kilograms) green turtles are among the largest sea turtles in the world.

Last week, fishermen in the island discovered another six green turtles and immediately freed two of the marine creatures due to their fragile condition.

The four other turtles, the biggest with a carapace of 94 centimeters long and 86 centimeters wide, were freed Saturday in the coastal village of Villa Norte in the island municipality and witnessed by more than 200 persons composed of local government officials and families of fishermen.

Bernal described the freed turtles as a “family.”

The environmentalist group now described Lamon Bay as a marine habitat once ruined by destructive fishing practices but is now a safe haven for endangered sea turtles, locally called as “pawikan.”

“The glorious phenomena can be attributed to the high level of environmental protection awareness of the coastal villagers and local government officials. This only shows that the government and an enlightened citizenry can make a great difference in protecting our natural resources,” said lawyer Sheila de Leon, TK-ST chief.

The “pawikan” is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and in the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20090810-219583/10-green-turtles-freed-in-Quezon
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