ADVOCACY

What is the scope of our advocacy?

Arena Island is geared towards protecting the pawikans that are continuously seeking refuge in the island to lay eggs. The intervention starts after the mother pawikan had laid her eggs on the sand. A mini cage is set-up to protect the eggs in the sand from the predators. The cage is not removed until all the eggs are hatched. After that, the hatchlings are fed and are taken-cared of for at least a month. After that, the hatchlings, when they are strong enough, are flipper-tagged so the island can tract if the pawikan hatchlings that will be laying eggs in the future are the ones that were protected through the conservation program.

Why are we doing this?

Home to the five of the seven species of marine, saltwater turtles in the world, the Philippines is considered to be a sanctuary of these endangered sea turtles or pawikans.  These are the Green (Chelonia mydas). Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and the Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea).

According to statistics, there are a total of 100,000 sea turtles that are killed every year in the Indo-archipelago region. The reason being, these sea turtles were either used to make tons of turtle products or eggs were sold to restaurants to make soups that were believed to be aphrodisiacs.

Having cited this situation, the Arena Island, being a nesting site for the pawikans, believes that through the advocacy, the program can help increase the chances of survival of the hatchlings before they are released in the sea. It has been proven already that through this kind of head start programs, sea turtles were able to survive too and breed. Here is a document regarding the survival of these species through head starting. Please click the link below:

http://www.seaturtle.org/PDF/OCR/ManzellaSA_1988_MarFishRev.pdf

Arena Island’s main goal has nothing to do with trade or disrupting the natural way of delivery of the sea turtles. This is just an act that hopefully, we can do, through the effort of both the island and concerned people who will be willing to help and conserve these marine animals for generations to come.