Fisherman rescues endangered turtle specie
A fisherman will be cited by the Dagupan City government for saving turtle specie listed as among the critically endangered marine species in the world.
Nonong Narvasa, a fisherman from Barangay Pugaro, turned over a 4-year-old hawksbill turtle that measured 15 inches long and 13 inches wide to the city agriculture office on July 10.
It is set for release in the open sea of the Lingayen Gulf by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) soon as the weather improves. According to Emma Molina, city agriculturist, the turtle is supposed to be released on Tuesday (July 11) but was delayed due to a bad weather condition spawned by typhoon “Florita.”
City administrator Raffy Baraan and Marlyn Banda, community environment and natural resources (CENRO) chief of protected area and wildlife section, attached a corresponding metal tag in its flippers for reference purposes to its would-be captors.
“The incident shows that the fisherfolk in the city really care about our marine resources,” Baraan said.
According to Molina, the hunting and killing of marine turtles as well as disposing their meat or any of their by-products is punishable by law pursuant to Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act or R.A. 9147.
She added that the national law for the protection of sea turtles imposes imprisonment and penalty to those found guilty of catching, selling and slaughtering the endangered aquatic creatures.
Some of the listed endangered turtles include the green turtle, loggerhead turtle, leather back turtle and olive ridley turtle.
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