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Marine Turtle Newsletter 125:13-14, © 2009

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

A Leatherback Turtle Encountered in El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

R.A.F.Salinas1, N.B. Ramoso Jr.1 and L.D. Rodriguez2
1Pawikan Conservation Project, Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Quezon Avenue, Quezon City, 1100 Philippines (E-mail: rafsalinas@yahoo.com , nilobramoso@yahoo.com, pawbpcp@yahoo.com)
2El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, Palawan, Philippines

A leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) was caught entangled in a drift net, locally called “pamo”, in Dipnay Bay, San Fernando, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines (11.322517° N, 119.562667° E) on 19 November 2005. The local fisher folks found a harness, which seemed too tight for the large turtle, across the leatherback’s body, and some of the harness appeared already embedded in the turtle’s flesh. Fearing the survival of the leatherback, the locals removed the harness, as well as the small rectangular box/gadget found on top of the turtle. The fisher folks and local officials eventually released the turtle back in the sea, only to find it dead after three days, along the same coast on November 22, 2005.

Examination of the carcass revealed that the turtle had fresh wounds on the shoulder and base of the fore flippers which could have been caused by the tight harness. The leatherback turtle, locally called “balimbingon”, had a curved carapace length of 201 cm and a curved carapace width of 158 cm. Because of the remoteness of the area and because the local community was not familiar with the conduct of a post-mortem examination of a marine turtle, they decided to simply bury the turtle.


Figure 1. Transmitter and harness found attached to a leatherback turtle in El Nido, Palawan, Philippines in 2005.

Meanwhile, the local fisher folks who acquired the small box broke it into small pieces thinking there was gold or something profitable in it. Not finding anything beneficial, they threw it away. However, a concerned and knowledgeable manger (the Protected Area Superintendent) retrieved the box as well as the harness attached to the turtle (Fig. 1). Scrutinizing the gadgets, the straps and harness had the inscriptions KURITEC BY KURIYAMA and NSF-51 CANADA K30324, both of which appeared to be specifications of the materials. The small, rectangular silver box, which appeared to be a transmitter, had the inscriptions SEIMAC WILD CAT 16051. Any information pertaining to the origin of this turtle would be greatly appreciated by the authors.