Sea turtles dot Boracay shores

Baby Olive ridley sea turtles crawl to the sea. PHOTO BY CRIMSON RESORT & SPA BORACAY
Baby Olive ridley sea turtles crawl to the sea. PHOTO BY CRIMSON RESORT & SPA BORACAY

BORACAY – This island is not only the world’s best beach because of its white sandy beach and turquoise waters. It is also a nesting ground of sea turtles.

At the start of the year, 196 sea turtle hatchlings were recorded in different parts of Boracay and were susbsequently released to the sea.

The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in the island and the private sector collaborate to protect and conserve the sea turtles.

In the early morning of Jan. 4, 102 Olive ridley and two Hawksbill hatchlings were recorded and released in the shores of Crimson Resort & Spa Boracay located at Punta Bunga Cove, Barangay Yapak.

The Olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is classified a vulnerable (VU) species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) while Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is critically endangered (CR).

On Jan. 8 during a post-nest evaluation along the coastal area of Sitio Bolabog, Barangay Balabag, the CENRO recovered 61 critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle hatchlings.

Six more hatchlings were found the next day “live-in-nest” by the beach cleaners.

Thus, a total of 67 hatchlings were released on the shores of Bolabog in Barangay Balabag on Jan. 9.

On the beach of Tambisaan in Barangay Manoc-manoc, 25 Olive ridley hatchlings were found on Jan. 10. They were released the next day.

“Boracay’s ongoing rehabilitation keeps the island clean and our team from CENRO Boracay and the Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group (BIARMG) help conserve the wildlife, especially the sea turtles,” said Regional Executive Director Francisco Milla Jr. of the Department of  Environment and Natural Resources in Western Visayas./PN

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