Endangered sea turtles thriving, hatchlings released in Antique

Green sea turtles hatchlings happily crawled their way home to the vast ocean in the province of Antique.

84 Green sea turtle hatchlings were released by the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Culasi one fine morning on June 27, 2021 at Brgy. San Francisco Norte, Tibiao, Antique.

The Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is considered endangered (EN) species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.

They are carnivorous from hatchling until juvenile stage and shift to an herbivorous diet as their serrated jaws adapts for most vegetarian diet of sea grasses and algaes.

99 eggs were found by a fisherman the night before its release and immediately reported to their local government unit. For the record, 13 eggs remains unhatched while 2 were found dead during the release.

The province of Antique has a strong implementation of the Turtle Conservation Program, with local folks actively supporting the protection and conservation of these marine animals.

These marine reptiles migrate thousands of miles over their lifetime to feed, breed and lay eggs. They have an internal global positioning system (GPS) using the earth’s magnetic field pinpointing specific coastlines based on their magnetic signature. Female turtles were able to return to the exact place where they were born to lay their eggs.

“These endangered sea creatures thrive in warmer temperatures of the waters in Antique to lay their eggs. More sightings of sea turtle hatch also indicate a healthy ocean ecosystem. We are thankful to the fishermen, our partners and guardians of the environment in saving our marine wildlife species,” Regional Executive Director Livino B. Duran said. (DENR-6)