BRGY.MANTA-ANGAN, E.B. Magalona - The oil sheen between the territorial waters of Negros and Iloilo may have been too much for a 39-kilo green sea turtle. It refused to go back to the waters in the area, when released several times by fishermen on Sunday.

E.B.Magalona Bantay Dagat chief Ruben Dinaga said this was the 15th sea reptile found in the territorial waters of E.B. Magalona since January.

Fisherman Randy Molle yesterday said the green sea turtle appeared unconscious when they rescued it from the waters between this town and Barotac in Iloilo. Not a single sign of injury was noted in its body, however.

Molle said that before they found the turtle, they smelled what he described as crude-oil fumes as they were passing the waters of E.B. Magalona and neighboring areas.

Reports from the Provincial Disaster and Management Team said that in previous days, sightings of oil sheen had been noted in the waters of Silay and E.B.Magalona.

Dinaga said he suspects that the green sea turtle came from the Taklong marine reserve area in Nueva Valencia, Guimaras, one of the areas badly hit by the oil spill. Senior Inspector Santiago Rapiz, E.B. Magalona police, yesterday recommended the examination of the green sea turtle by personnel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to determine if it has been contaminated by oil spill.

The "fish scare" caused by the oil spill in Guimaras, has reached some coastal areas of Negros Occidental.*GPB

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