12/07/2007
A green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) has been confiscated from a market trader in the Philippines and returned to the sea. The turtle was caught accidentally by fishers in Polillo Strait but was being sold illegally at a coastal market in Panukulan, Quezon Province.
Staff from the Polillo Islands Biodiversity Conservation Foundation (PIBCF), a local conservation group supported by Fauna & Flora International, were made aware of the catch by a concerned member of the public. Alex Acuña, a PIBCF Local Area Coordinator, visited the market with the police and rescued the turtle.
Green sea turtles are listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List - a conservation database that assigns threat categories to species by assessing factors such as abundance and local threats.
Prior to being released the turtle was weighed and measured. Its health, size and sex were recorded and its age was estimated to be at least 50 years. This information will be used to bolster the scientific community’s knowledge of green sea turtles.
The data also offers valuable insight into ‘by-catch’, where unintentional targets are caught by fishers.
More than a quarter of a million loggerhead and 60,000 leatherback turtles are estimated to be inadvertently snared by commercial long line fishing every year.
Turtles aren’t the only victims. "Nearly two-thirds of the 44 species of marine mammals threatened with extinction are in danger because of by-catch," said Dr Stephen Browne, Fauna & Flora International's Asia-Pacific Regional Coordinator. "Devices to limit accidental snaring are available; but for local fishers, whose incomes are often extremely low, buying new or upgrading existing fishing tackle is just too expensive."
The market trader will face prosecution if this is his third offence. However, Philippine environmental law, drafted to protect marine turtles and marine life generally is rarely enforced.
Backed by Fauna & Flora International and funded by the Darwin Initiative, PIBCF is pioneering community-based conservation in Polillo. The group employs several local area coordinators from Polillo, Burdeos and Panukulan municipalities of the mainland. Environmental education is a key part of the foundation’s work. Local Area Coordinators regularly visit schools, local communities and local government units to give lectures on wildlife, habitat protection. and environmental law.
Fauna & Flora International has operated in the Philippines for more than twenty years and works to conserve the plants and animals - terrestrial and marine - in Cebu, Mindoro, and Southern Luzon. Our work with PIBCF is among the first in the country that works with local communities to develop strategies to reduce environmental damage and increase wildlife protection.
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To find out more about this news item, please contact:
Dave Beamont at david.beamont@fauna-flora.org or call +44 (0)1223 579332.
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