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CEBU CITY, Philippines – A three-foot long, 50-kilogram hawksbill turtle – an endangered species – was found in a fisherman’s fish corral on Tuesday near the shores of Barangay (village) Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City
It was the first time that a turtle was found in the barangay’s waters, and was possibly the largest found in the city’s shores, said Basak San Nicolas barangay Captain George Rama.
The turtle was later tagged by environment officials and released into the waters off the South Road Properties (SRP).
The creature found its way into a fish corral earlier yon Tuesday, said fisherman Melfred Toring.
Moreno Tradeo, the fisherman who found the turtle, said he and other fishermen decided to bring the turtle to authorities instead of immediately releasing it into the sea because the creature was not tagged.
“If we didn’t take it, others might find it. And since it doesn’t have a tag, it might get slaughtered and sold,” Tradeo said in Cebuano.
“We rescued it using a net. Unfortunately, the net broke because it was very feisty and strong,” Toring said in Cebuano.
The sea turtle might have ended up near the shore due to an astronomical anomaly on Monday night, said Dr. Pilar Romero, a City Hall veterinarian who studied the turtle before it was released.
“Perhaps you noticed that the other night, the moon and the planets Jupiter and Venus were very close together? That may have caused changes in the sea, causing the turtle to get disoriented,” Romero said.
Romero said the turtle had no wounds but she noticed that it may have become traumatized from having been separated from others of its kind.
The turtle was brought to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources later attached a tag to the endangered creature before releasing it into the waters off the SRP.
