Sea turtles in Burgos

By Eva C. Visperas

THE TOWN mayor here plans to give sea turtles which have recently become their frequent visitors in their beach area, names to identify them.

In fact, Mayor Domingo Doctor Jr. said that the next sea turtle that will visit them will be named “Doming”.  It will carry his name, he said. Others will also be christened with common Filipino names in the villages, he added. However, included in the tag will be the name of the town so that those who will find them will know where they came from.

Doctor had just received an award for his town for   the 2006 Search for Cleanest Coastal Municipality as part of the annual Pistay Dayat celebration (Sea Festival) . ??Doctor said the good development happening now in his town is sea turtles are coming out. Last Monday alone, a very big sea turtle was sighted and four men could hardly carry it.

Unfortunately, it escaped before they could put a  tag on it.

This month alone, four big sea turtles like Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata)) and a green turtle (Chelonia mydas) “visited” them. The last one which is a rare species was not properly identified, the mayor said.

All the other more than 10 sea turtles which have been sighted here since last year were given a tag that read “LGU of Burgos” to indicate where they were found and released back to the sea. In the past years, more had been seen here by fishermen but some were slaughtered and their meat sold to turtle meat lovers while others were not reported at all, he said.

Doctor said he is happy that his townmates are now becoming more aware of the need to care for these sea creatures.

Only recently, an Olive Ridley sea turtle nested in their beach area. It had more than a hundred eggs but only five were hatched. After few days, they were released to the sea while the rest were buried.

Doctor said they are undertaking massive efforts among his townmates to save these sea creatures. The information dissemination efforts are included in all the town’s activities, he said.

He added that he is giving rewards to people who turn over live sea turtles to him.

A local ordinance is being planned to be passed for the protection of sea turtles, Doctor added.

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(You can also read this writer’s other stories at http://businessblog.prepys.com.)

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