JAPB111_proof ■ 23 January 2016 ■ 1/5 Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity xxx (2016) 1e5 55 HOSTED BY Contents lists available at ScienceDirect 56 57 Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity 58 59 60 journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/japb 61 62 63 Original article 64 65 1 Diversity, habitat distribution, and indigenous hunting of marine 66 2 67 3 turtles in the Calamian Islands, Palawan, Republic of the Philippines 68 4 69 a,b,* b b 5 Q16 Christopher N.S. Poonian , Reynante V. Ramilo , Danica D. Lopez 70 6 a 71 7 Community Centred Conservation (C3), London, UK b C3 Philippines and Micronesia Programme, Busuanga, Philippines 72 8 73 9 74 10 article info abstract 75 11 76 12 Article history: All of the world’s seven species of marine turtle are threatened by a multitude of anthropogenic pres- 77 13 Received 26 May 2015 sures across all stages of their life history. The Calamian Islands, Palawan, Philippines provide important 78 14 Received in revised form foraging and nesting grounds for four species: green turtles (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtles (Eret- 79 22 December 2015 15 mochelys imbricata), loggerheads (Caretta caretta), and leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea). This work 80 Accepted 30 December 2015 16 aimed to assess the relative importance of turtle nesting beaches and local threats using a combination of Available online xxx 81 17 social science and ecological research approaches. Endangered green turtles and critically endangered 82 hawksbills were found to nest in the Calamianes. The most important nesting sites were located on the 18 Keywords: 83 islands off the west of Busuanga and Culion, particularly Pamalican and Galoc and along the north coast 19 Busuanga 84 20 Q1 Coron of Coron, particularly Linamodio Island. Opportunistic hunting and egg collection, conducted legally by fi 85 21 Culion indigenous communities, is the most signi cant threat to sea turtles in the area. Sites particularly vulnerable to hunting were found to be Galoc Island, Pamalican Island, and Panlaitan Island. Raising 86 22 Linacpan nesting beaches awareness, community engagement, and understanding of socio-cultural drivers of sea turtle exploita- 87 23 sea turtles tion, particularly among indigenous communities, are essential to gain support for any effective con- 88 24 Q2 Tagbanua servation program. Additionally, more effective enforcement of laws related to the trade in sea turtle 89 25 products is required to close the commercial and export markets. 90 26 Copyright Ó 2016, National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK) and Korea National Arboretum (KNA). 91 27 Production and hosting by Elsevier. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// 92 28 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 93 29 94 30 95 31 96 32 97 33 Introduction stages at which they are most vulnerable. Turtles are particularly 98 34 vulnerable to human exploitation during nesting, when they are 99 35 Owing to their longevity, slow maturation rates, and complex easily accessible to coastal populations, usually for subsistence 100 36 life histories, marine turtles are highly vulnerable to a multitude of purposes (Humber et al 2014). 101 37 anthropogenic threats operating across their life-history (Wallace Marine turtle populations worldwide are in urgent need of 102 38 et al 2011). They undertake large-scale migrations, utilizing a conservation action. Globally, the number of mature females 103 39 wide range of habitats but spending the majority of their lives in nesting annually has diminished over the past three generations, by 104 40 the deep oceans. Female turtles return annually to their natal 84e97% for hawksbill turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata [listed on the 105 41 beaches to nest (Lohmann et al 2013), allowing critical areas of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List 106 42 Q4 nesting habitat to be identified and providing a rare opportunity to as Critically Endangered; Mortimer and Donnelly 2008] and 48e 107 43 evaluate populations and their distribution to inform conservation 67% for green turtles, Chelonia mydas (listed on the IUCN Red List as 108 44 management. It is impossible to guard against all threats to a given Endangered; Seminoff 2004). All seven of the world’s species of 109 45 population of marine turtles, or to protect every area of habitat they marine turtle are included within the threatened categories of the 110 46 utilize, so conservation efforts must therefore focus on life-history IUCN Red List (IUCN 2014) and in Appendix I of the Convention on 111 47 International Trade in Endangered Species, prohibiting interna- 112 48 tional trade in these species and their products (UNEP-WCMC 113 49 2015). 114 50 Q3 * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 20 8144 9693. There is a severe deficiency of current scientific research on 115 51 Peer review under responsibility of National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK) and 116 Korea National Arboretum (KNA). marine turtles in the Philippines, as is the case for much of 52 117 53 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2015.12.006 118 54 pISSN2287-884X eISSN2287-9544/Copyright Ó 2016, National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK) and Korea National Arboretum (KNA). Production and hosting by Elsevier. 119 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Please cite this article in press as: Poonian CNS, et al., Diversity, habitat distribution, and indigenous hunting of marine turtles in the Calamian Islands, Palawan, Republic of the Philippines, Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2015.12.006 JAPB111_proof ■ 23 January 2016 ■ 2/5 2 CNS Poonian et al. / Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity xxx (2016) 1e5 1 Southeast Asia (Gomez 1980; Shanker and Pilcher 2003), despite The Tagbanua of the Calamianes are one of the few indigenous 66 2 the fact that the country’s waters are likely to harbor internation- tribes still practicing their traditional lifestyles in the Philippines. 67 3 ally significant populations. To date, the majority of research in the The Philippines’ constitution guarantees the rights of indigenous 68 4 Philippines has focused on the Turtle Islands, Tawi Tawi, where over communities to their ancestral land and sea resources (Capistrano 69 5 one million C. mydas eggs are laid each year (Cruz 2002; Lejano and 2010; Capistrano and Charles 2012). Fishing, hunting, and 70 6 Q5,6 Ingram 2007; Trono 1991). However, C. mydas, E. imbricata, and foraging define the Tagbanua people’s identity and removing this 71 7 olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) nesting sites are widespread component of their lives would endanger their culture (Dalabajan 72 8 Q7 throughout the Philippines (Cruz 2002; Ramirez-de Veyra 1994). 2001). The Tagbanua people hunt marine turtles and collect their 73 9 Other sites with published data available include: Mindanao (Byrne eggs according to traditional management practices such as cul- 74 10 and Hines 2005; Quimpo 2013); Northeastern Palawan (Ladra and tural taboos and sacred areas (Guieb 2010; Sampang 2007). Addi- 75 11 Laguidao 1992); Panay and Guimaras Islands (Bagarinao 2011); tionally, the Philippines’ National Protected Area System strongly 76 12 Panikian Island, and Morong (Cruz 2002). Encouragingly, the promotes the inclusion of indigenous peoples and the integration 77 13 Pawikan (marine turtle) Conservation Project, established in June of their traditional ecological knowledge in natural resource man- 78 14 1979, has achieved much towards the sustainable management of agement strategies (Capistrano 2010). 79 15 turtles in the Philippines, including the development and imple- Here we report on a rapid assessment of marine turtle pop- 80 16 mentation of conservation and protection policies, management ulations in the Calamian Islands that combines social and ecological 81 17 and propagation schemes, and nationwide information and edu- approaches, to provide information urgently required for conser- 82 18 Q8 cation programs (Ramirez-de Veyra 1994; Sagun 2003; Trono vation efforts including distribution of key nesting sites and pat- 83 19 1991). terns of exploitation. 84 20 The Calamian Islands (Figure 1) support a rich diversity of ma- 85 21 rine habitats including coral reefs, beaches, and seagrass beds Materials and methods 86 22 (Garces et al 2013; Tupper et al 2015), providing important foraging 87 23 and nesting grounds for marine turtles. At least four of the world’s In order to rapidly develop a deeper understanding of marine 88 24 seven species of marine turtles have been historically reported in turtle distribution, we carried out interviews in a total of 15 bar- 89 25 the islands’ coastal waters (PCSDS 2006a,b,c,d): nesting pop- angays located throughout the Calamianes (a barangay is the 90 26 ulations of C. mydas and E. imbricata, occasional transient logger- smallest administrative division in the Philippines; a village, dis- 91 27 heads (Caretta caretta; Sagun 2003) and leatherbacks (Dermochelys trict, or ward). Interview-based approaches have been employed in 92 28 coriacea; Salinas et al 2009). Human exploitation for meat and eggs, several studies of marine species globally (Moore et al 2010), 93 29 combined with degradation of nesting and foraging sites and providing a low-cost, rapid means of acquiring information over 94 30 incidental capture in local fisheries, are major threats (PCSDS large areas. Barangays were selected based on a high occurrence of 95 31 2006a,b,c,d). marine turtle sightings and locally known nesting sites (PCSDS 96 32 97 33 98 34 99 35 100 36 101 37 102 38 103 39 104 40 105 41 106 42 107 43 108 44 109 45 110 46 111 47 112 48 113 49 114 50 115 51 116 52 117 53 118 54 119 55 120 56 121 57 122 58 123 59 124 60 125 61 126 62 127 63 128 64 Figure 1.