Two months after the first sea turtle nest of 2023 was discovered at the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park, 116 hawksbill sea turtle hatchlings were released on August 14.
Representatives from the Davao City Local Government Unit, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Davao, private organizations, and the media came to witness the release of the hawksbill sea turtle hatchlings.
The park serves as a model of habitat conservation and biodiversity management in an urban setting. Partner groups, schools, and private and public organizations join its educational tours and conduct tree planting and coastal clean-up activities.
To date, the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park welcomed more than 13,000 visitors, with around 19,000 mangrove and endemic trees planted, 106 bird species sighted, 23 rescued turtles, 71 turtle nests found with 7,586 pawikan hatchlings released to the sea.
Currently, there are five sea turtle nests in the Park with eggs expected to hatch between August to September this year. These nests came from one rescued mother hawksbill sea turtle tagged as PH0148J. She was found weak and trapped in the Park’s mangrove area back in 2017.
Davao Light and its social development arm, Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., manage the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park since 2015. It is an 8-hectare biodiversity park in Sitio Punta Dumalag, Matina Aplaya, which serves as a sanctuary for the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles, and for dozens of rare bird species.
