Pawikan's survival ensured
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By Roberto C. Navarro
Scattered like tiny specks in the Philippine-Malaysian border some 45 minutes by boat from the coast of Sandakan, Sabah, the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area (TIHPA) is one of the world's few remaining traditional nesting grounds of the migratory pawikan or marine turtle.
The chain of islands in the southern edge of the Sulu Sea constitutes one of only 16 areas in the world where green turtles are known to lay their eggs several times each year.
It is the world's first transboundary protected area, jointly organized by the Philippines and Malaysia, for the aquatic reptiles. TIHPA is also the only conservation effort of its kind in the Association of Southeast Asian region.
Six of the nine islands, namely, Boaan, Langaan, Great Bakkungaan, Lihiman, Taganak and Baguan, belong to the Philippines. The other three, namely, Pulau Selingaan, Pulau Bakkungaan Kechil and Pulau Gulisaan, are inside Malaysian territory. Gulisaan is a major nesting site of the hawksbill turtle.
"In 1997 alone, an estimated 3,000 to 8,000 adult nesting turtles were monitored in the warm sandy shores of the Philippine-owned islands," Dr. Rhodora R. de Veyra, biologist of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau's (PAWB) Pawikan Conservation Project (PCP), said. "The green turtles, which visited the islands for about two to five times, laid an estimated 1.7 million eggs."
More than half of the eggs were laid in the uninhabited, 29-hectare island-sanctuary of Baguan where commercial egg collection is strictly prohibited. Some 640,000 eggs, however, were laid in all the other five Philippine islands where the local population of some 2,600 were allowed to collect and sell 60 per cent of the eggs.
Turtle eggs are considered a delicacy in some parts of Asia where they are perceived to possess medicinal and aphrodisiac properties.
Very little is known about the migratory patterns of the adult turtle that manages to lumberjack to the sea after depositing some 100 eggs in sand pits. Thus, the Coastal Resource Management Program (CRMP) and PAWB-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund-Philippines (WWF), is now looking into the possibility of using high-tech transmitters linked to a sophisticated satellite to track the elusive pawikan.
The system is scheduled to be operational before the end of 1998.
"Up to now, we have not really identified where the turtles go, but we have records of Philippine-tagged turtles that have been recovered in Palawan and Indonesia," de Veyra said. "Malaysian-tagged turtles have been found in Bacolod and Palawan."
Tagging is part of the project's research and monitoring component which seeks to determine the marine turtles' population and distribution as well as ration and DNA of hatchlings, and matters relating to the turtle egg trade.
The project also aims to come up with a joint socio-cultural study of investment opportunities inside the TIHPA. Malaysia now has a controlled ecotourism facility in its uninhabited island of Pulau Selingaan.
"Such tours are limited to only 30 people a night," de Veyra said. "PAWB-DENR and WWF are now drafting the Philippine Turtle Islands ecotourism guidelines."
The Turtle Islands are fragile marine ecosystems. A slight change brought about by development will have negative impacts on the islands' land and marine wildlife.
Thus tourists visiting the islands will come face to face with TIHPA's strict conservation and management program. There are rules to be followed.
For instance, developers are strictly prohibited to engage in sand and coral excavation. Vegetation in the beach areas is protected. Use of fishing gear which disturbs or kills turtles are banned. Lights from buildings are controlled so as not to disturb the nocturnal nesting habits of the turtles.
The inaccessibility of the islands and the local Muslim population's dislike for turtle meat serve as natural and cultural plus factors to the turtles' long-term survival.
To reach the island sancturary of Baguan, PCP researchers take a tedious three-day voyage from Navotas, Metro Manila, to Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi via a large fishing vessel. From Cagayan, they board another motor launch for a 12-hour voyage to Baguan.
For the moment, ecotourists in the Philippines will have to wait. The Philippine-controlled islands will eventually be opened to tourists, but the Baguan island-sanctuary will remain a strictly protected zone.--Environment News Network
Roberto C. Navarro is a journalism graduate of the University of Santo Tomas. A freelance writer, he contributes articles on the environment, health, population and real estate issues to Raya Media Services, Inc., and other non-government organizations.
