ZAMBOANGA CITY – A female Green Sea Turtle died shortly after it was rescued by Community Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO) of Guipos and Bureau of Fish and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Barangay Kabatan, Vincenzo Sagun, Zamboanga del Sur.
Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENRO) Ben Acana said Tuesday, Feb. 23 the sea turtle was discovered trapped last week inside a fish pen by Alberto Gratol, a local fisherman in the village who reported it to CENRO Guipos and BFAR.
Acana said a team immediately conducted rescue operation to save the turtle but the green sea turtle was found weak and was also covered in barnacles around its plastron, flippers, carapace, and neck and died shortly after the rescue operation.
A necropsy examination was immediately conducted by personnel from the Community Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO) of Guipos and BFAR. It was found out that the turtle ingested plastic straw and nylon.
Acana explained that the food of green turtles changes with age. Juveniles are carnivorous, but as they mature they become omnivorous. Young sea turtles eat fish eggs, mollusks, jellyfish, small invertebrates, worms, sponges, algae, and crustaceans.
“This is just one of many incidents of marine species dying due to ingestion of plastic wastes,” said Acana.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Zamboanga peninsula reminds everyone to help on the conservation and protection of our environment and natural resources.
Green sea turtles are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1982 as endangered due to its decreasing population.
According to the website of Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines among the threats to green sea turtles are habitat degradation and destruction of feeding areas and nesting beaches and pollution.