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Marine Turtle Newsletter 3:7, © 1977

Observations on the Exploitation of Turtles in the Philippines

Pejabat Perikanan Negeri¹ and Siow Kuan Tow^2
1Trengganu, Kuala Trengganu
²State Director of Fisheries, Kuala Trengganu, Malayasia

I was on a study tour sponsored by the South China Sea Fisheries Development and Coordinating Programme of FAO on 18.10.76 to 6.11.76. Among other things, I made study on the exploitation of marine turtles in the Philippines. Below are my observations.

Of the four species recorded only the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) nest in great number in the southern islands. Not much information was obtainable concerning other turtles. But it is established that the leathery turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) does not nest in the Philippines.

Traditionally, turtle meat and eggs are eaten and scutes from the hawksbill turtle are used to make ornamental items in the Philippines. The full scale cottage industry of processing turtles by stuffing was started in 1970, and since then the export market for stuffed turtles was established resulting in big increases in the number of turtles being killed every year. Cebu City, where I visited, is one of the two major turtle processing centers in the Philippines (the other being in Mindoro). There are about 50 processors each processing on an average 400 hawksbill and 100 green turtles each a year. This means in Cebu City alone 25,000 turtles are processed annually. Taking into account Mindoro and other small processing centers, the total number of marine turtles killed for this purpose can be put at 75,000 annually. This figure is frightening.

Though there exists a law governing the collecting, gathering and disposing of marine turtles, turtle eggs and its byproducts (Bureau of Forest Development Administrative Order No. 1 dated July 10, 1974) the enforcement is evidently lacking and sometimes difficult. For example, I saw plenty of stuffed hawksbills of less than 10 inches carapace length whereas the law prohibits the taking of anything smaller than 12 inches plastron (why plastron?) length. Secondly, the law requires that 100 eggs be retained in every nest by the egg collector and this is obviously impossible to enforce. Besides prohibiting the collection of turtles from a group of small islands (The Turtle Islands) in the Sulu Sea, no other conservation measure is being taken at the present moment.

There is an urgent need that the existing legislation there be revised and tightened to give better protection to marine turtles. Hatcheries should be set up to replenish the stock. Otherwise marine turtles will soon disappear in the Philippines, the people associated with the turtle trade will soon be out of jobs, the Filipinos will no longer enjoy this cheap and good protein food, let alone the benefits that can be derived from the tourism associated with turtle watching.