Danjugan Island released 120 hawksbill hatchlings, with more than 2,000 this year

Protectors of Danjugan Island have released 120 newly hatched hawksbill turtles, BusinessMirror reported on November 8, 2026. Kaila Ledesma Trebol, a trustee of the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation, which has owned the 43-hectare island off Cauayan, Negros Occidental, since 1994, told the paper that hawksbills are the only sea turtles recorded nesting there. She spoke with the newspaper on October 29.

In October alone the island had three emergences: one nest with 103 hatchlings, one with 150, and one with 124. Trebol said the year has brought more than 2,000 hatchlings, and that staff have counted 21 nesters, with the caveat that not every nester is found. Tracks sometimes lead nowhere, because the turtles hide their nests. When a nest is located, staff mark it with the incubation estimate. She said the usual wait of about 50 to 60 days now varies: some nests have hatched at 45 or 46 days, and some in a colder, rainy January took 61 to 65. Nesting is no longer confined to one season. The foundation's records show nesting in most months this year, with a gap in July.

Most nests stay where the turtle laid them. Some on other beaches are moved to Turtle Beach when water has reached the eggs. A 2001 local ordinance protects the waters around the island as the Danjugan Marine Reserve and Sanctuaries, and municipal fishers may still use the buffer zone if their gear is not destructive. The news is this year's hatchlings and the 120 just released. It is not a count of every hawksbill in the Sulu Sea.