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Tagbanua of the Calamianes, fishing on the water

Green turtles hold a special significance in certain cultures, especially coastal communities in the Asia Pacific region. According to Hindu mythology, the India deity Vishnu was reincarnated as a turtle, holding the burden of the world on its back. These communities also hold customary beliefs about the aphrodisiac and medicinal properties of turtle eggs (WWF, 2019). In the Philippines' Calamian Islands, particularly Pamalican, Galoc, and Pamalican Island, hunting green sea turtles and collecting their eggs is a prominent feature of many indigenous communities’ ways of life. This activity, despite its destructive effects on the green turtle population, is legal in the Philippines according to the country’s constitution, which guarantees the rights of indigenous communities to

their ancestral land and sea resources. One particular tribe that relies on the green turtle to sustain its lifestyle is the Tagbanua of the Calamianes. The fishing, hunting, and foraging of green turtles and their eggs has become an important part of this group’s identity and removing this component of their lives would endanger their culture. However, by sustaining their own population, indigenous tribes are killing off that of the innocent green turtle. In fact, opportunistic hunting and egg collection of green sea turtles by indigenous communities is the number one threat to sea turtles in the area (Lopez, Poonian, Ramilo, 2016).