04 Sep
2008 - Foreign poaching of Philippines marine
life has flared up as an issue again following
the discovery of more than 100 dead Hawksbill
turtles aboard a Vietnamese fishing vessel
apprehended near Malampaya.
The fishing boat’s 13-man
crew flooded their vessel as a Filipino
gunboat approached them near the country’s
main gas field, around 80km off the coast
of Palawan Island in the South China Sea.
A total of 101 Hawksbill turtles were found
drowned in the vessel’s cargo hold.
Resting sea turtles,
which grow up to a metre in length and can
weigh as much as 80kg, can remain submerged
for up to two hours but stressed individuals
must resurface every few minutes.
“Again and again, foreign
nationals have encroached upon Philippine
waters to plunder our nation’s dwindling
marine resources,” said WWF Project Manager
RJ de la Calzada. “It disheartens us to
find the animals we work so hard to conserve
slaughtered on a wholesale basis.”
Distinguished from other
sea turtles by a hooked beak and heavily-serrated
carapace, the Hawksbill has for millennia
been hunted for food and tortoiseshell,
a material used as far back as the ancient
Greek and Roman times to fashion jewellery,
combs and brushes.
The Hawksbill turtle
is protected under Appendix I of the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES), which prohibits all international
trade. It is also now classified by the
IUCN as Critically Endangered, the highest
risk rating for a living animal. Under Philippine
and international law it is illegal to capture
and kill sea turtles and to trade in turtle
by-products.
The 13 Vietnamese poachers
are just the latest in a long line to have
intruded upon Philippine waters, violating
both local and international laws. Last
year over 200 Green turtles were retrieved
in the Sulu Sea and two years ago 359 CITES-protected
Napoleon or Humphead Wrasse were seized.
“The list goes on and
not one case has ever led to a serious conviction,”
said De La Calzada. “The Vietnamese poachers
were not the first and they will certainly
not be the last.”
Amid fears that justice
might again prove elusive, WWF is acting
as a watchdog to ensure that charges are
pressed in this case. The 13 Vietnamese
crewmen will be charged with violating the
Philippine Wildlife Conservation and Protection
Act, penalties for which can include a fine
of up to one million Philipppine pesos (US$21,500)
coupled with a six-year jail term.
“WWF condemns such blatant
poaching of internationally-protected marine
life and hopes that the Philippine government
will finally have the resolve to dispense
due justice against foreign poachers who
disregard both local and international laws,”
said WWF-Philippines president Dave Valdes.
