Marine turtles in danger

Hunted regularly; meat sold openly
Critically endangered worldwide, marine turtles are regularly hunted and their meat sold openly in village markets around the country’s Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.
A local market in Bajua adjacent to Dangmari Forest Beat Office is one such place where meat of a marine turtle species — lepidochelys olivacea or jolpai kochhop in Bangla — is sold for Tk 120 a kg.
The forest department takes no interest in stopping the illegal poaching, and selling of turtle meat.
The Centre for Advanced Research in Natural Resources & Management (CARINAM), an NGO working on biodiversity, in a recent survey on the status of critically endangered turtles of Bangladesh, found that fishermen collect the turtles and sell them to wholesalers in local markets like Bajua.
From Bajua local retailers or forias buy the turtles, slaughter them and sell their meat in Bajua, Podderganj, and Digraj weekly markets.
Chief Executive of CARINAM Dr SMA Rashid said the forias buy each marine turtle for Tk 1,000, and sell the meat for Tk 120 a kg.
He witnessed three marine turtles being slaughtered and counted seven dried plastrons or underbelly shells of turtles from previous sales.
The slaughtering and meat sale is done on road sides in front of big crowds.
“Marine turtles are protected under Bangladesh Wildlife Preservation Act,” Rashid said adding, “Being a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on Migratory Species, and the Memorandum on the Indian Ocean Sea Turtle Conservation — Bangladesh needs to take appropriate measures for conservation and management of marine turtles.”
Marine turtles are also killed in large numbers by fishermen in Cox’s Bazar, St Martin’s Island, and Sonadia Island areas.
In a recent trip to a stretch from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf, at least 60 dead turtles were noticed, which are suspected of dying after getting entangled in fishing nets used by fishing trawlers.
“All marine turtles are globally endangered,” Rashid said. “Female marine turtles travel more than thousand kilometres to come to nest on the beaches of Bangladesh but unfortunately get caught in fishermen’s nets and killed.”

Courtesy of The Daily Star