Stranded turtles remind us of keeping clean, safe oceans
By Rey Anthony H. Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, May 7 (PIA) – A female hawksbill sea turtle struggling in the mud in Barangay Alejawan, Jagna town caught a fisherman’s attention, who immediately reported the incident to local officials.
A research assistant working for a non-government organization Physalus, Dominique Clarke reported the incident but did not know the fisherman and added that the local officials subsequently brought the turtle to Jagna town hall.
Jagna officials called Physalus whose technical men assessed the turtle’s condition and tended to it by wrapping it with wet blankets to make it comfortable.
Assessing that the hawksbill was healthy and active, the rescue group Physalus then quickly freed the hawksbill to the seas.
“The speed with which she then swam away from the immediate area was very encouraging and Physalus is hopeful that she we will make a full recovery from her ordeal,” said Clarke in his report.
The group also said it is possible that the turtle attempted to lay her eggs when she was found. Hawksbill females often travel surprisingly far up the beach to dig their nests, this is learned.
Physalus explained that a hawksbill is a sea turtle distinctly named for its beaked head, much like that of a hawk and are the most common sea turtles found in the southern coasts of Bohol.
Physalus is a non-government organization and has been working with communities in Bohol in attempts to engage them to understand and help conserve and protect the marine and coastal environments in the area.
In a related development, a few months ago Physalus also freed another hawksbill they named JT. It was rescued after fishermen found it sick.
Physalus executive director Dr. Alessandro Ponzo said they released JT after a few days of flushing the poison out of its system.
Ponzo said JT has ingested plastic cellophanes, probably mistaking them for jellyfish.
According to Ponzo JT and the female hawksbill were lucky, unlike the rarer leatherback turtle that was found dead in Duero town within 48 hours after the hawksbill’s release.
Physalus is now in custody of the dead leatherback turtle, pending a necropsy to dig into the cause of the death of the turtle.
A leatherback sea turtle does not have the usual bony shell unlike the other common sea turtles. This marine turtle could grow into the largest species of turtles, Ponzo said.
Ponzo shared that this rarely seen sea animal features a hydro-dynamically streamlined body which is tear-shaped and is blessed with largely flattened forelimb flippers that are so oversized when compared to its body.
According to Clarke’s report turtles are capable of migrating distances of up to 20,000km and will swim to depths of 1000m or more in search of jellyfish, their favorite food, Clarke wrote.
According to Wikipedia, adult leatherback turtles subsist almost entirely on jellyfish.
“Pacific leatherbacks migrate about 6,000 miles across the Pacific from their nesting sites in Indonesia to eat California jellyfish. One cause for their endangered state is plastic bags floating in the ocean,” Wikipedia reads.
Pacific leatherback sea turtles mistake these plastic bags for jellyfish; an estimated one third of adult leatherbacks have ingested plastic, according to Wikipedia.
The latest Bohol incident is allegedly claimed as only the second recorded stranding of a turtle of this species in the province.
“Making it all the more important that we learn about their presence. The necropsy will determine what most believe as death by ingestion of plastic cellophanes,” Clarke said.
Both hawksbill and leatherback turtles are among the listed critically endangered turtles in the world, Clarke added.
Over this, Physalus said health and stability of the marine ecosystem in the Bohol seas and the animals that depend on it is the responsibility of all Boholanos who wish to continue enjoying and benefiting from its rich diversity. (mbcn/rahc/PIA-Bohol)