The municipality of San Vicente in the Philippines’ Palawan is a vital nesting ground for Olive Ridley sea turtles.Nesting turtles and their eggs face an array of challenges. Predation by dogs is the most immediate threat, but rising sea levels, more severe storms and tourism development plans also loom large.To try to protect the turtles, Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines, a Philippine-based NGO, runs a research project and works with paid patrollers to monitor and protect turtles and their nests.Community involvement is key to the group’s conservation efforts.
When Jerald Mahusay was a kid, he and his friends saw turtle eggs so often, they treated them like toys.
“We were always playing with the eggs,” Mahusay recalled of his childhood in Santo Niño, a village in the Philippines’ Palawan province. “We didn’t know why they are important.”
Mahusay’s relationship with turtles has changed. In 2023, he started working as a patroller for the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE), an NGO that conducts marine research around the country, including a turtle monitoring project in Palawan. This year, Mahusay was promoted to head of the local patrol unit and research assistant for LAMAVE’s turtle project.
