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General Description
- TIWS cover the whole municipality of Turtle Islands and its surrounding waters in the province of Tawi-Tawi. The municipality of Turtle Islands is an archipelago with a rocky islet (i.e. Sibaung) and six small islands (i.e. Taganak, Baguan, Langaan, Boan, Lihiman, and Great Bakkungan) located in the province of Tawi-Tawi, Sulu archipelago, which is bounded by the Sulu and Mindanao Seas on the west and north and by the Celebes Sea on the east and south.
- TIWS is on the Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a marine key biodiversity area in 2009, and Turtle Island Heritage Protected Area, the first trans-frontier protected area for marine turtles in the world
- TIWS is nesting ground for two species of marine turtles, i.e., green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). It is globally recognised as one of the remaining major nesting areas of green sea turtles in Southeast Asia and the 11th major nesting area in the world.
- TIWS is also home to other diverse species of flora and fauna found in the major ecosystem types: fringing reefs (1,754.51 hectares) with hard coral cover (HCC) between 18% and 47.6% (AVG: 37.5%) HCC Category B).
- Seagrass beds are underdeveloped, represented mainly by pioneer species, found only off two of the six islands.
- Up to 62 species of algae have been observed, 27 being chlorophytes (green algae), 22 rhodophytes (red algae), and six phaeophytes (brown algae); but these are sparsely distributed on the reef populations and do not form any distinct communities.
- Mangroves are patchy (at least 12 species) and can be found only in Boan and Taganak. About 150 Sonneratia alba (pagatpat) trees were surveyed in Boan, which has the only sizable mangrove stand in the Turtle Islands.
- At least two mammals (bats), 34 bird species,12 land reptile species, and about 281 terrestrial plant species have been reported.
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