DUMAGUETE CITY — A key official of the world-renowned Apo Island Protected Landscape and Seascape (AIPLS) in Dauin, Negros Oriental on Wednesday urged the public to refrain from throwing plastics into the ocean as these can kill marine creatures, especially the endangered sea turtles.
Severino Partosa sounded the call following the recovery of a dead green sea turtle in the deep waters off the coast of Chapel Point on Apo Island last Monday.
“Hinaot nga ang pawikan wala to namatay kay nakakaon ug plastic (I hope that the sea turtle did not die due to ingestion of plastic),” Partosa said.
He noted that ingesting plastics and even nylon from fishing nets could be fatal to the marine creatures.
He lamented that many visitors coming to Apo Island are recklessly dumping plastics into the ocean.
Partosa said they had a previous experience, where a sea turtle brought to the Silliman University Marine Laboratory in Dumaguete City was found to have ingested plastic.
Crew members of the Harold’s Dive Shop found the dead turtle floating on the waters and retrieved and brought it to Apo Island where it was buried, Partosa said.
Because the sea turtle was already decomposing, there was no way to immediately determine the cause of its death although marine biologists from the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE) took tissue samples for future study, he said.
Partosa said they could not tell whether the dead turtle was one of those that inhabited Apo Island’s waters, as many of these endangered species travel from Dumaguete City to Mindanao.
He appealed to the public to protect marine turtles as this is one of Apo Island’s main attractions, where people even swim with them.(Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA)
