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Marine Turtle Newsletter 53:5-7, © 1991

Philippine Marine Turtle Conservation Program

Romeo B. Trono
Project Leader, Pawikan Conservation Project, Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Quezon Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

By virtue of Executive Order No. 542, signed on 26 June 1979, the Task Force Pawikan (Marine Turtle Task Force), now referred to as the Pawikan Conservation Project (PCP), became the Philippine government's urgent response to conserve and manage the dwindling marine turtle resources of the country. The PCP is responsible for the development and implementation of conservation and protection policies, management and propagation schemes, and public information and education programs to ensure the survival and growth of the country's remaining marine turtle populations. At present, the project is attached to the Wildlife Division of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The project has a nationwide scope with pilot sites in the Turtle Island Group in Tawi-Tawi and El Nido (Bacuit Bay in Northwestern Palawan). In order to achieve its objectives, the project has instituted three major programs:

1. Resource Management and Protection,
2. Research and Investigation, and
3. Information and Education.

A Support Services Unit helps ensure the smooth implementation of program activities.

The Resource and Management Unit is responsible for the development and implementation of rules and regulations governing the management and conservation of marine turtles, including the establishment and maintenance of marine turtle sanctuaries. Thus far, the Unit has promulgated seven Administrative Orders and one Memorandum Order pertaining to the management and protection of marine turtle resources in the Philippines. Three of the Administrative Orders issued declare a total of nine sanctuaries throughout the country. However, due to budgetary constraints the project has been limited to the management of a single sanctuary which is the Baguan Island Marine Turtle Sanctuary (BIMTS), one of the six islands comprising the Philippine Turtle Island Group in Tawi-Tawi. The Turtle Island Group has been regarded by the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group as supporting the only major (>1,000 nesting females per annum) green turtle nesting aggregation in the whole ASEAN Region. Three other islands on the Malaysian side of the border are also included in this well-defined rookery. These islands may be the only major source of green turtles being supplied to the whole region. Cognizant of the significance of the site, the project opted to concentrate its efforts in this area. Between 1984 and 1989, 4,116,710 green turtle eggs were protected out of a total reported production of 6,727,400 eggs.

The Resource and Management Unit also inventories marine turtle by-products in identified establishments in order to monitor domestic trade involving endangered species. To date, approximately 266 business establishments engaged in commerce in marine turtle by-products have been inventoried and informed regarding the ban on trading in these items. Persons engaged in this trade are aware that it is illegal; consequently, their activities are clandestine and difficult to quantify. Records of trade are generally acquired from ports of entry as reported in the Traffic Bulletin. DENR has personnel stationed at the international airport in Manila to monitor and confiscate not only marine turtle products carried out of the country by tourists, but also other species listed in the CITES appendices. From 1989 to the first half of January 1991, a total of 171 stuffed turtles and 20 turtle carapace guitars have been confiscated by the DENR. About 80% of these products are made from green turtles and the rest are hawksbill in origin.

The Research and Investigation Unit deals mainly with the collection of pertinent data concerning marine turtle biology, conservation, and management. The information gathered by this Unit serves as input for the formulation of sound conservation strategies. To this end, the Unit conducts habitat surveys and environmental characterization of sites reported to be marine turtle habitats. Of the 71 surveys conducted in 13 provinces, nine sites have been officially declared as marine turtle sanctuaries. Surveys and sighting reports have confirmed the occurrence of marine turtles throughout the archipelago, including green turtles (Chelonia mydas), hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata), leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea), and olive ridleys (Lepidochelys olivacea). High density green turtle nesting occurs in the Turtle Islands and Bancauan Island in Tawi-Tawi. A tagging program is being implemented as part of an on-going nesting population study conducted at the BIMTS; 3,094 neophyte green sea turtles [nesters encountered for the first time] were tagged between 1982-1989. About 95% of these are nesters from Baguan Island.

Many investigations have been done to characterize the marine turtle populations occurring in the Philippines. In this study, monitored nests (enclosed with a wire mesh 0.5 m in diameter and buried 20 cm deep) were excavated five days after the initial hatchling emergence. Upon excavation, data were collected which included incubation period, clutch size, emergence and hatching success, infertility, embryo mortality, embryo deformity, and predator damage. Selected data are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Selected reproductive statistics for green sea turtles nesting in the Baguan Island Marine Turtle Sanctuary, July 1984 to December 1989. A total of 27,458 nests were laid. Asterisk (*) denotes data from 146 natural nests, CC = curved carapace.

The Research and Investigation Unit continuously conducts scientific research to further increase the efficiency of current conservation efforts. These projects include the experimental control of nest temperature at existing hatcheries to achieve the hatchling sex ratio observed from natural nests. In order to estimate the natural sex ratio, gonads of 146 randomly selected hatchlings (one from each of 146 nests) were processed for sex identification using the criteria of Miller and Limpus (1981). Tissues were processed using the parafin technique, serially sectioned and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H & E), and then examined histologically. The male:female ratio was found to be 1:8.6 (Trono and Veyra 1990) (Table 1). In an experiment conducted last year, a portion of one of the hatcheries in Baguan Island was shaded using coconut leaves. One hundred hatchery nests were monitored and, upon emergence, one hatchling per nest was randomly selected. Histological examinations revealed a 36:26:38 ratio (male:intersex:female) (Pawikan Conservation Project, unpubl. data). Previous histological examinations conducted on hatchlings emerging from unshaded hatchery sites on Baguan Island had revealed a ratio of 0:2:58 (Chan 1988). Finally, an attempt will be made to conduct a population census of varanid lizards preying on turtle eggs and hatchlings in the BIMTS to formulate management strategies to control the depredation of turtle eggs and hatchlings.

The Information and Education Unit aims to disseminate relevant information and create greater awareness and consciousness among the people regarding the government's marine turtle conservation program. The Unit makes use of the most available channels of information dissemination (broadcast, film, print, folk media). Information drives have already been conducted in 24 provinces of the country, a training workshop for DENR regional staff has been initiated, and 3,000 copies of a 12-page brochure on the marine turtle conservation program and 2,200 copies of a 14-page primer translated into four dialects have been printed. Conservation T-shirts are also available; 1,000 shirts in three designs have been produced and distributed. One of the most successful information materials is a 15-minute video presentation entitled Fate of the Sea Gypsy showing the plight of marine turtles and what the government is undertaking to arrest further declines.

The PCP has been a recipient of two foreign grants, which is a reflection of the international concern for the protection of these endangered species. In 1989, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partially funded a research project entitled "Evaluation of the Reproductive Potential of the Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, Nesting Population in the Baguan Island Marine Turtle Sanctuary, Turtle Islands, Philippines". This year, World Wildlife Fund-USA awarded to the project a grant for the acquisition of a speedboat, radio communications equipment, and a power generator for operations in the Turtle Islands. Other institutions have likewise signified their interest in providing assistance.

Aside from sustaining its present activities, a major objective of the project for the near future is to push for the declaration of the whole Turtle Island Group and its surrounding waters as a National Heritage Park. This is seen as an initial step towards elevating the status of the area into an ASEAN Heritage Park, which is envisioned to also include the nesting islands on the Malaysian side of the border. Management of the site will be proposed as a joint undertaking among three ASEAN nations (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia). In order to succeed in conserving the remaining green turtle populations in the ASEAN Region, a concerted effort by these three nations to manage the Turtle Islands is of the greatest importance.

Chan, J. 1988. Sex identification of green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) hatchlings using histological techniques. University of the Philippines.

Miller, J. D. and C. J. Limpus. 1981. Incubation period and sexual differentiation in the green turtle, Chelonia mydas L. Zoo B. of Vict. 6:6-73.

Trono, R. B. and R. R. de Veyra. 1990. Evaluation of the reproductive potential of the Chelonia mydas nesting populatin in the Baguan Island marine turtle sanctuary, Turtle Islands, Philippines. Pawikan Conservation Project. PAWB-DENR.