by Andres Alibijaban November 2, 2019 (Photo by Jeremiah V. Recto) SAN ANDRES, Quezon - A dead sea turtle was found by Bantay Dagat...
November 2, 2019
 |
| (Photo by Jeremiah V. Recto) |
SAN ANDRES, Quezon - A dead sea turtle was found by Bantay Dagat at the coast of Sitio Barok-Barok, Brgy. Camflora, San Andres, Quezon today (November 2, 2019) at around 9:00 o’clock in the morning.
Larry Edem, a bantay dagat member who found the dead tortoise immediately called the attention of Atty. Rolando R. Recto, Municipal Administrator and concurrent Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer (MENRO) of San Andres, Quezon about the incident and asked for advised on what to do. Atty. Recto reported the incident to the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Catanauan, Quezon through Ms. Nida Barros, an environmental management specialist of the said office, who immediately dispatch one of their personnel in the area.
Meanwhile, the MENRO instructed Jeremiah V. Recto, one of the municipal employee to go to the area to take pictures and conduct measurment of the carcass of the turtle which reveals its length (beak to back-end) at 3 feet and width (widest area from side to side) at 2 feet. The dead animal is suspected to belong to a hawksbill specie because of the shape of its beak.
Hawksbill turtle (s.n. Eretmochelys imbricata) is classified as critically endangered species based on the conservation status according to International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its killing is punished with an imprisonment of a minimum of six (6) years and one (1) day to twelve (12) years and/or a fine of One hundred thousand pesos (100,000.00) to One million pesos (1,000,000.00) as provided under Section 28 (a) of R. A. 9147 or the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act of 2001.
Coastal residents of the municipality observe increasing number of dead sightings of dead turtles found along the coastline of Brgy. Tala and Camflora, both of this municipality. While no concrete evidence could point out as to what causes and who could be the people behind the death of this sea creature, they claimed that it started when a new kind of fish corral locally known as Baklad na Lubog started operating in the nearby area.
The Municipal Government Unit of San Andres, Quezon under the leadership of Atty. Giovanne T. Lim, municipal mayor, is intensifying its campaign against illegal fishing activities and other environmetal law violations. A new speed boat was recently acquired to boast the LGU capacity to respond to reported incidents of violations.
No comments