LIMAY, Bataan – Government officials, students, children, housewives and fishermen flocked to the sandy beach of Barangay Luz Kitang Dos here at dawn of Wednesday to witness the release of 24 hatchlings of marine turtles or pawikan into the sea.
Mayor Lilvir Roque said it was the second time that pawikan hatchlings were let loose in Limay. The first was on December 27 where some 13 baby turtles were released to the sea in Barangay St. Francis.
The hatchlings are from the Olive Ridley specie of marine turtles.
Roque asked his constituents to protect the environment.
He announced that a pawikan sanctuary will soon be established in Limay similar to the conservation center in Morong, Bataan.
Lawyer Ricardo Lazaro, provincial environment and natural resources officer, said that the Limay municipal government was the first local government unit to initiate and took a hand in the gathering of pawikan eggs, hatching and setting free the hatchlings.
Town Councilor Antonino Joaquin, chairman of the Committee on Environment, has the full backing of the mayor and other members of the Sangguniang Bayan for the project.
Lazaro said adult pawikans have been sighted visiting Limay in the past years and it was only last December that eggs were gathered and taken cared of.
Maraming salamat sa Limay municipal government sa kanilang inisyatibo na pangalagaan ang mga pawikan,” he said.
Lazaro and Mila Ramirez of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources provincial office told residents and visitors that the hatchlings can be considered as grandchildren of older pawikan that laid eggs on the sandy beaches of Limay.
The PENRO said that although the surroundings were somewhat different from the past, yet the female pawikan born in Limay some 30 to 40 years ago came back and laid their eggs in the place where they came from.
Lazaro asked that the beach be left as it is and not to be cemented so that the released hatchlings will come back after 30 to 40 years.
Mayor Lilvir Roque said it was the second time that pawikan hatchlings were let loose in Limay. The first was on December 27 where some 13 baby turtles were released to the sea in Barangay St. Francis.
The hatchlings are from the Olive Ridley specie of marine turtles.
Roque asked his constituents to protect the environment.
He announced that a pawikan sanctuary will soon be established in Limay similar to the conservation center in Morong, Bataan.
Lawyer Ricardo Lazaro, provincial environment and natural resources officer, said that the Limay municipal government was the first local government unit to initiate and took a hand in the gathering of pawikan eggs, hatching and setting free the hatchlings.
Town Councilor Antonino Joaquin, chairman of the Committee on Environment, has the full backing of the mayor and other members of the Sangguniang Bayan for the project.
Lazaro said adult pawikans have been sighted visiting Limay in the past years and it was only last December that eggs were gathered and taken cared of.
Maraming salamat sa Limay municipal government sa kanilang inisyatibo na pangalagaan ang mga pawikan,” he said.
Lazaro and Mila Ramirez of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources provincial office told residents and visitors that the hatchlings can be considered as grandchildren of older pawikan that laid eggs on the sandy beaches of Limay.
The PENRO said that although the surroundings were somewhat different from the past, yet the female pawikan born in Limay some 30 to 40 years ago came back and laid their eggs in the place where they came from.
Lazaro asked that the beach be left as it is and not to be cemented so that the released hatchlings will come back after 30 to 40 years.
