DAVAO CITY - With only a few days before the start of a new year, members of an environmental conservation group in Davao Oriental province were elated to find over a hundred turtle eggs at the Dahican Beach in Mati City.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Amihan sa Dahican-Save our Seas Project said its morning patrol team "found the mother turtle laying her eggs at exactly 4:30 am."

The group recovered 120 eggs. The eggs were placed in a “pawikan (sea turtle)” hatchery "for safety and protection from predators".

"The Amihan team will now monitor the eggs and will wait for approximately 60 days for these mighty creatures to hatch," it added.

According to its website, the Amihan sa Dahican team was established on April 4, 2004. The organization aims "to conserve marine wildlife species in the bay, while taking care of young children, and sharing surfing and skimboarding skills with visitors."

The patrol teams of Amihan sa Dahican monitor and trace oliver ridley turtles which lay eggs between the months of October-May, and green and hawksbill turtles on May-September.

Once the patrol team finds a nest, they transfer the eggs to the hatchery to protect the eggs "from human activities as well as from predators such as birds, cats, and crabs."

"Even though only limited resources are available, we are determined to monitor and record the number of marine turtle eggs transferred and hatchlings released. We also tag the mother turtle for monitoring purposes and to inform conservation management," it added.

It said their group members have received training for these procedures from the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR)-Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB).