Mother turtles are dying in Bangladesh due to banned fishing nets

Mother turtles are dying at Cox's Bazar in

Bangladesh due to various banned fishing nets. Within last two days, at least 25 mother turtles died and washed up to the shore. 

According to local media reports, on Thursday noon a huge dead mother turtle of about 35 kg floated at Shaplapur point of Baharchhara beach in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar district. The back left leg of the tortoise was cut off. There were injuries on it's face and back. It was probably injured by a sharp blow.

That same night, at least 9 more dead bodies of mother turtles were washed up on various beaches including Lambari poryaton ghat, Dargar Chhara of Teknaf. 

The previous day on Wednesday, 15 mother turtles washed up on Baharchhara's Bara Dale, Shilkhali Chowkidarpara, Mathabhanga and North Shilkhali beaches.

In total, the number of turtles washed up on the beach of Teknaf alone in two days stood at 25. Environmental workers said that there were eggs in several turtles. 

Mohammad Yusuf, Hashem, Abdul Mannan, Abdul Majeed, Monir Ahmad, Shafiullah and Dil Mohammad work as a watchman in the hatchery built by CODEC for mother tortoise breeding in Teknaf. 

They have been involved in this work for 10 to 25 years. But they said they never seen so many turtles die before. 

They confirmed that a lot of dead mother turtles have been found on the beach this year, which is very disappointing. The mother turtles were looking for a safe place to lay their eggs. Fishermen beat them to death when caught in nets.

Asim Barua, officer of the Nature and Life project of the private organization CODEC, said that after crossing the coast of thousands of kilometers from the deep sea, the mother turtles rush to lay eggs on the sandy beach during the winter season.

But near the beach they are dying after being caught in the forbidden nets laid by fishermen. Some turtles are killed by fishing trawlers or deep-sea vessels. Most of the turtles that come to lay their eggs are olive colored (olive ridley). They lay 30 to 120 eggs together. 

Banned nets killing mother turtles 

The use of banned nets has not stopped by any means. Abdul Amin and Azizul Islam, fishermen from Teknaf's Maheshkhaliapara and Baharchhara's Shamlapur area caught fish in the Sonadia-St Martin Island area.

They said that at least 6,000 banned fishing nets and current nets have been laid along the 120 km coast of this area. When turtles come ashore from the deep sea to lay their eggs, they get caught in nets. 

Then the fishermen killed the tired and weakened pregnant mother turtles with sticks or sharp weapons and threw them into the sea. Dead bodies wash up on the beach at high tide.

Belal Uddin, President of Shamlapur Fishing Boat Owners Association of Baharchhara, said that there are about 6,000 fishing boats in the sea. Boat fishermen are prohibited, turtles caught in fishing nets must be released without killing. But still the mother turtle is dying.

Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer. Delwar Hossain said that the Fisheries Department and the Coast Guard often conduct operations to remove prohibited nets from the coast. A large number of contraband nets were seized and destroyed by fire. Still the death of the mother tortoise cannot be prevented.

Deepak Sharma, President of Cox's Bazar Forest and Environment Conservation Council, told Dipu Prothom Alo that the country's only coral island, St. Martin, Teknaf's Shahpari Island, Sabrang, Nayapara, Maheshkhaliapara, Baharchhara, Ukhiyar Monkhali, Chhepatkhali, Patwartek, Inani, Cox's Bazar's Himchhari, Dariyanagar, Kalatali beach along with Maheshkhali. 

And every day a few dead mother turtles are floating on Sonadia coast. At least 35 dead turtles washed up on the beach in 20 days from February 2 to February 22. Of these, 90 percent of the turtles had injury marks on their bodies.

In addition to the prohibited nets, mother turtles coming to lay eggs on the beach are dying after being attacked by stray dogs. Dog attacks are especially common on the island of St. Martin. Saint Martin Union Parishad Chairman Mujibur Rahman said that 10-15 dead mother turtles floated on the beach of the island in the last seven days. 

Most of the tortoises are eaten by dogs. The remaining turtles are buried in the sand. As there is no one to take responsibility for stray dogs in the area, no one is making the fishermen aware. Local fishermen have no idea about the government's policy regarding the use of prohibited nets.

The danger when mother tortoise dies

Marine animals Turtles are one of the main components of marine ecology. They help maintain the balance of the environment by eating poisonous marine animals such as jelly fish. 

Without turtles, the pollution in the sea will increase as well as the number of jelly fish, researchers believe. This will have a negative impact on the fish resources.

Former Professor of Zoology Department of Chittagong University to know about this. Shah Alam said that a turtle trapped in a net can stay alive for two to three hours.

But the fishermen are beating and killing the turtle and throwing it in the sea. Turtles maintain the balance of the environment by eating sea garbage and jelly fish. It is everyone's responsibility to keep them alive.