Conservation At Work

Dumdidumdum and the Baby Pawikans of Morong, Bataan
By Roda Novenario

He is a frisky one, Dumdidumdum. He pushes ahead, jutting himself above everyone else in the pond filled with baby pawikans. He seems like he wanted to get out so bad.

I pick him out of about 20 hatchlings and couldn't keep him still. With my small camera already strapped around my right wrist, my free hands are still overwhelmed.

There is the compulsory photo op with the Inquirer's travel photographer so I try to calm Dumdidumdum down. I am partly successful.

My baby pawikan is one of the hatchlings sheltered by the Pawikan Conservation Center in Morong, Bataan. The center is the community's initiative and has been supported by the United Nations Development Program-Global Environment Facility under their Small Grants Programmer (UNDP-GEF-SGP), the Pawikan Conservation Project of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Provincial Government of Bataan, and the UNLAD-Bataan Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) Chapter.

Turtle poachers and egg collectors in the past, the center's volunteers now make up Bantay Pawikan Inc., the center's volunteer group. Their reformation is life-altering, to say the least, as they've had to look for alternative means of livelihood, as well as adjust certain notions regarding turtles and turtle eggs.

Turtle shells are coveted as materials for ornaments and souvenirs. Turtle meat is a main source of protein for coastal areas in developing countries. It is also considered a delicacy in some areas. Turtle eggs are food too, and with absurd life-prolonging expectations by its eaters.

And even when not hunted, human practices endanger turtle population. Turtles are air-breathing reptiles that must surface every now and then to breathe. Shrimp and fishing nets trap turtles, disabling them from swimming upward. Likewise, shoreline developments threaten egg-laying. Turtles are attuned to the earth's magnetic field and females come back to the beach where they were born to lay eggs. When these beaches are developed for tourism and what not, human traffic endangers the eggs.

The efforts of the Pawikan Conservation Center in Morong start with gathering eggs laid on Morong's stretch of beach. Gathered eggs are reburied in a fenced area until hatched. Although this practice decreases the hatching ratio, it's better than leaving these eggs exposed on the beach. Hatchlings are then sheltered in a small pond until they are strong enough to swim.

That's when we come in. Me and Dumdidumdum together today for the baby pawikans' releasing ritual. A short speech by the organizer, a group picture, and then we're ready.

I say my goodbyes. I tell him to meet me underwater one day, in a dive or two. The group lays the babies down five meters into the beach, facing the ocean. We hope for their survival. We let them sense the magnetic imprints of that piece of earth as they instinctively crawl towards the water. Dumdidumdum is ahead of the pack, of course. I am so proud.

To contact Pawikan Conservation Center: Nida Valdez. Mobile: 0928-718-5721. Purok IV, Aplaya, Nagbalayong, Morong, Bataan. For organized trips, please contact Violet Imperial of Nature Awareness and Conservation Club Inc. Telefax: 806-1720. Mobile: 0919-483-9250 / 0915-510-1600.