A 24-INCH sea turtle was found inside a private shipyard in one of the coastal barangays of San Fernando town, southern Cebu.
The sea turtle, locally known as “pawikan” and believed to be around 60 to 70 years old, was found stranded in the muddy shores near the Philippine Trigon Shipyard in Sitio Suba, Barangay Sangat, San Fernando at around noon last Tuesday.
Winds
After checking its condition and tagging the rare marine specie, the personnel from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of Argao town, which has jurisdiction from the City of Naga to Santander, released the turtle on Wednesday at the beach front of Pulchra Resort in Barangay San Isidro in the same town.
Barangay Sangat Councilor Jose Nonilon Garces told Sun. Star Cebu that Jeffrey Reston, an employee of the shipyard, was walking around the workplace when he found the sea turtle.
Reston immediately reported the matter to the barangay, which prompted Garces and village tanods to recover the turtle.
Garces said that turtle may have been stranded after huge waves brought by the southwest monsoon or “habagat” swept it toward the shore.
Unharmed
He said that the turtle had no outlying signs that it was harmed.
The population of sea turtles are threatened because they are caught, slaughtered and sold.
In a separate interview, Tito Sarol of the San Fernando Municipal Agriculture Office said barangay officials turned over the sea turtle to their custody before it was released back to the sea.
Sarol said that this was the second time that a sea turtle was found in Barangay Sangat.
They also found one there six years ago, he said.