Liking endangered sea-turtle: Pawikan nesting sanctuary a visit

Lifting pawikan Olive ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) one of the seven living species of sea turtles.

It’s not a plan but we went for exploration. We are in the Maitum Municipal Hall Sarangani Province when the Kagawad tells us to visit their Pawikan Sanctuary.

Mother Pawikan (Sea Turtle)

It’s not my first time watching Pawikan but its different species compared to what I’ve seen before, Moreover, Theirs a lot of sea turtles in this Sanctuary.

Entrance Gate of the Sanctuary

sea turtle habitant

Nesting and Hatching place

fine-mesh fence hatchery

The Nesting and Hatchery Sanctuary has a story and inspired by one man, entitled Giving Turtles a Chance.

small pond of little turles

Thousands of hatchlings have been saved thanks to this man’s determination

Its 4am and Danilo C. Dequiña is already awake. Holding a flashlight and carry a pail, he is walking in the pre-dawn darkness along the shore of Old Poblacion Beach in the town of Maitum, Sarangani, in the far south of the Philippines. His mission: to find newly laid marine turtles eggs.

baby Olive ridley

A few minutes later, he spots a patch of sand that appears to have been disturbed by a turtle. Dequiña studies the area carefully, figuring out where the eggs have been buried, then starts digging slowly. After clearing away several centimeters of sand, he uncovers a large cluster of eggs, which are roughly the size and have the appearance of ping-pong balls. He picks each one up and puts them in the pail. In all, he collects more the 100 eggs from this spot. Dequiña carries the eggs, which he thinks were laid by an Olive Ridley turtle, to his hatchery, some 50 meters away from the seashore.

The hatchery is really just a sandy patch of land under the coconut trees enclosed by a black fine-mesh fence. Round plastic mesh marks the spots where he has buried other turtle eggs he has collected. Today, Dequiña scoops out a hole, buries the eggs and covers them with sands.

baby pawikan shell

After 45 to 70 days, the eggs will hatch. Dequiña will then put them in a basin and carry them to the shore, and release them into the sea. He admits to feeling sad as he sets hatchlings free – most are hunted by natural predators and just one percent survive to adulthood.

Turtle eggs have always been a part of 52-year-old Dequiña’s life. When he was a boy, his father collected eggs on the beach, and brought them home to be cooked and eaten, Their neighbors did the same thing. “I never thought pawikan were a threatened species,” says Dequiña, using the local term for marine turtles.

fun lifting baby pawikan

Today he knows better. The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) says eight species of marine turtles face extinction, including four that come to the shore of Sarangani to lay their eggs – Hawksbill, Olive Ridley, Loggerhead and Green Turtle. The reasons are all man-made: hunting, egg gathering, pollution and the sale of stuffed turtles to tourists.

big and heavy mother pawikan

Dequiña learned about the turtles’ plight as an adult, after he took a job with the local municipality to protect threatened mangroves.

After attending a DENR training session on turtle conservation, he decided to take action. He helped the local government to set up the Pawikan Nesting Sanctuary next to his house in 2003.

The hatchery drew the attention of his neighbors. “They started to change their attitude towards marine turtles,” he says.

Indeed, the locals started helping him. “If they see pawikan eggs, they either collect them and bring them to me or inform me of the nesting place,” Dequiña says. The local government and environmental groups have also given their support, providing materials and the technical expertise. Over the past seven years, more than 3000 hatchlings have been released to the ocean.