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Hundreds of dead turtles are being washed ashore from Cox’s Bazar to St Martin’s island with bruises all over their bodies. Over 400 female dead turtles have floated ashore over the last two weeks alone, locals claim. Experts say that these turtles meet their death as they travel the stretch of nearly 120 kilometres from Sonadia Island in Cox’s Bazar to St Martin’s island to lay eggs on the shore. The turtles get entangled in the fine fishing nets used indiscriminately by fishing trawlers. The fishermen, instead of releasing them back to the sea, beat them to death with sticks and dump their bodies in the sea, experts allege. Their bodies are then washed ashore by the tide. Some fishermen from Sonadia, preferring anonymity, has confirmed this saying it’s a hazardous task to release the turtles back into the waters. Dead turtles are also being washed up to the shore at Sonadia, St Martins, Teknaf and Shah Parir Dwip coasts. Two government and non-government organisations, working with sea turtles, have recovered 62 carcasses from Cox’s bazaar area over the past week. They have expressed concern about the situation and also the environmental pollution caused by such large number of carcasses. At present dogs and jackals are feasting on the dead bodies. Some locals have been burying the carcasses because of the foul odour. Biologist Zahirul Islam said each year at least 1,000 sea turtles get killed when they come to Cox’s Bazar beach to lay eggs. The turtles get entangled in trawlers in deep sea who use “current” or “Bihingi” nets to catch shrimps. Most turtles found in this area are olive ridleys. Each turtle weighs between 10 - 20 kg, are 63 - 70 cm in length and 60 - 67 cm in breadth. The experts warn of an impending environmental disaster that could be caused by the large-scale deaths of turtles and subsequent imbalance in the local ecology. Source: Daily Star (Dhaka), 10 February 2009.

A nonprofit group is leading attempts to develop artificial limbs for a loggerhead sea turtle. The 68-kg turtle, named Yu-chan, is believed to be female and around 20 years old. When it was found trapped last June in a fishing net in the Kii Channel between Honshu and Shikoku, it was missing half of its left forelimb and one-third of its right forelimb, with shark teeth marks all over its body. Yu-chan was taken to the Hiwasa Chelonian Museum in Minami, Tokushima Prefecture, where it has been looked after. Because the turtle can only swim at about 60 percent of its original ability, the Sea Turtle Association of Japan came up with the idea of giving it artificial limbs to help it survive once it is released back into the wild. The group knows it will be a challenge: there is no known successful case of artificial limbs being attached to sea turtles, which have fragile bones and use their limbs differently in water and on land. According to the plan, the turtle will be moved in May from the town of Minami to a man-made saltwater pond on reclaimed land in Kobe. In the meantime, Kawamura Gishi Co., a prosthetics maker based in Daito, Osaka Prefecture, will start making artificial fins with advice from veterinarians, taking advantage of its experience making artificial legs for dogs. Source: Japan Times, 16 February 2009.

There has been an increase in leatherback turtle landings in Terengganu, especially at Rantau Abang in Dungun, with nine landings detected on its shores last year. From the landings, 511 eggs were produced, of which 419 were incubated at the Turtle Information Centre in Rantau Abang. Terengganu Turtle Sanctuary chairperson Datuk Mokhtar Nong said however, that the incubated eggs did not result in baby turtles. “The eggs did not hatch, as it was believed to have been created by the female turtle without the male,” he said. Mokhtar, who is also state secretary, said that two years ago, no leatherback turtles could be found nesting or landing in the area. Besides leatherback turtles, he said there were 2,023 other turtle landings, of which there were hawksbill turtles (four) and painted terrapins (245). Source: Nut Graph News, 11 February 2009.

It was a record year for successful turtle nests in 2008. The turtles, both hawksbills and greens, arrived early and stayed late. So late, that in November, personnel of the Department of Land and Natural Resources had to dig up a green sea turtle’s nest at Spreckelsville to save the hatchlings from high surf. If he hadn’t moved the eggs in a bucket, they most likely would have been swept away. Altogether, Maui’s turtle watchers and helpers rescued 140 hawksbill and 122 green turtle babies who would most likely not have made it on their own. The hawksbill nest monitoring group Dawn Patrol thanked the more than 160 volunteers who scouted for nests and marked their locations. Since the turtles are listed as threatened or endangered species, it requires a permit to excavate their nests. At Big Beach, the Dawn Patrol watched nests virtually around the clock, scaring away predators like mongoose and ghost crabs, and helping little turtles through vegetation and, in one instance, out of a deep human footprint. In 2008, there were 917 hawksbill hatchlings produced, out of 1,322 eggs; and 539 green sea turtle hatchlings, out of 866 eggs. The bigger greens put fewer eggs into each nest, from 69 to 114 this year; while hawksbill nests contained as many as 202 eggs. Maui Girl - officially green sea turtle 5690 - became the first green known to have nested in West Maui in half a century and now returns every other year. Orion, a hawksbill, laid five nests in 2001, the same in 2004, and at least four this year. Orion wears a data logger on the top of her shell, put on after her third nesting in 2008. She prefers Oneloa (Big Beach). The radio monitor on Orion showed some interesting turtle behavior. For one thing, she repeatedly dived down about 30 feet at the same spot, apparently to rest. Where that spot was, the radio did not reveal, but between Aug. 11 and Aug. 23, Orion made 469 dives, about half to what appears to have been a nap spot. She usually stayed down about 90 minutes. Source: Maui News, 9 February 2009.

Foul smells emitted from a dead hawksbill turtle within the police barracks compound at Namara in Labasa aroused the sympathy and rage of nearby residents. The hawksbill was supposed to have been one of the dishes at the function after the Commissioner’s Cup challenge on Friday night. But according to police sources, it was crossed off the menu because of fears its meat was poisonous. “And it was to have been returned to the sea but was not returned on time because it died,” the source said. The carcass was yesterday covered with flies and maggots and had an unbearable stench. World Wide Fund for Nature official Penina Solomona said the death of the turtle was an unnecessary waste. “If they were sure they were not going to use it than they should not have harvested it or really they should have returned it to the sea,” she said. “That looks like an adult turtle capable of laying eggs and by the time the Fisheries Act kicks in from November to February during their nesting period when they are protected, their numbers will decrease,” she said. “They are classified as critically endangered therefore their protection is still key to ensure their continued existence.” The four-year moratorium safeguarding turtle species like the hawksbill ended in December 2008. Ms Solomona said this exposed turtles to over fishing and people needed to display more care. Source: Fiji Times, 8 April 2009.

A young loggerhead sea turtle at Mote Marine’s animal hospital in Sarasota, is recovering from two severe boat propeller gashes that stranded him in Fort Pierce six months ago. The turtle is one of 683 loggerheads that washed up injured or dead on Florida beaches last year. As a survivor of his injuries he is a rare statistic, but part of a dismal and baffling decade-long trend prompting concern about the species’ future. About 80 percent of stranded sea turtles are found dead, victims of disease, boat injuries and entanglements in garbage and fishing line, said Allen Foley, a wildlife biologist and sea turtle expert with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He said years of increased loggerhead strandings - spiking in the bad red tide year of 2006, when more than 1,200 loggerheads washed ashore - coincide with a 41 percent decline in loggerhead nests on state beaches. The combination of increased strandings and decreased nests could jeopardize the animals’ long-term survival. Loggerhead nest counts of about 45,000 in 2007 were the lowest since counting began 20 years ago. Last year was not much better, continuing a 12- to 13-year decline. Among the top suspected causes of mortality is the national fishing industry, which is allowed under the Endangered Species Act to kill about 4,700 loggerheads a year, according to the environmental group Oceana. Past fishing activity also has led to the decrease in nesting, said Marydele Donnelly, director of International Policy for the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. Shrimp trawling killed thousands of loggerheads each year in the 1980s before regulators required the trawls to have a turtle escape hatch. Shrimp, scallop, swordfish, flounder and tuna fishing also take a toll on loggerheads and other sea turtles, Donnelly said. Oil rig spills make them sick. Plastic fishing line cuts their flippers. Boat propellers slice their bodies. They mistake garbage, especially plastic bags, for food. Heavy metals in their food sources and new diseases also cause illnesses in the aquatic reptiles. Shoreline losses also affect the population: seawalls, jetties and developed coastlines hinder nesting. “It’s hard to say that one person or that one fishery will mean that turtles won’t survive, but when you add them all together, then it’s a lot worse,” Foley said. Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12 February 2009.

A Santa Rosa, CA woman has been indicted in federal court in San Francisco for allegedly taking part in the illegal trade of endangered sea turtle parts from China into the United States, authorities said today. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the 54-year-old woman was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in importing and selling guitar picks made from the shells of the endangered hawksbill sea turtle. Hawksbill sea turtles are one of seven sea turtle species listed as endangered under either U.S. law or international treaties, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The alleged activities took place from 2005 to 2007, and included the possession and sale both of imported picks made from the shells and of imported shells that were later fashioned into picks, prosecutors said. The woman has been charged with one felony count and one misdemeanor count of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits illegal trade in wildlife, and one misdemeanor count of violating the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $200,000 fine for the felony, and one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each of the two misdemeanors, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Source: San Jose Mercury News, 27 March 2009.

In Florida, regulators voted this week to take steps to shut down a common type of fishing that uses long lines affixed with hooks and squid bait because it may be killing hundreds of threatened sea turtles yearly. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted 10-7 during a meeting Thursday in Bay St. Louis, Miss., to close fishing with long-line gear in shallow waters off the coast of Florida for six months. The shutdown may start by June 2009. The National Marine Fisheries Service must approve the shutdown, but it is likely to do so because of mounting evidence that long-line fishing is killing sea turtles such as the loggerhead, protected by the Endangered Species Act. About 100 boats in the Gulf would be affected by the shutdown, and most of those dock in the Tampa Bay area. Besides red grouper, fishermen also would be barred from catching gag and other reef fish with long lines. The harvests are worth more than $30 million a year, according to industry estimates. During the shutdown, officials, fishermen and conservationists plan to draw up a long-term conservation plan, which could involve measures such as reducing the number of boats, banning squid bait and permanently ending long-line fishing. The move comes after studies showed that as many as 1,000 sea turtles are being snagged every 18 months in long-line gear, a practice in which fishermen bait fishing lines before they lay them on the ocean bottom. Of the 1,000 sea turtles caught, scientists estimate that about 800 of them were loggerheads, a species that is listed as threatened. Conservationists say the fishing technique is harmful to sea turtles that forage in the same reefs red groupers use off the west coast of Florida. But fishermen dispute that they are catching so many sea turtles on their lines. Glen Brooks, the president of the Gulf Fishermen’s Association, said the 18-month study of long-line fishing in 2006 and 2007 used scientific models that do not depict reality. Allison said a shutdown was still not enough to ensure sea turtles do not become extinct. “What we need to do is [pass] a Sea Turtle Protection Act to give sea turtles the same kind of protection that mammals get,” Allison said. “There are a lot of other issues, as the fishermen point out. There are problems with nesting beaches, with lights on the beaches, with the armoring of the coast.” Source: Orlando Sentinel, 31 January 2009.

Allison was rescued from the South Padre Island surf in the summer of 2005. Bloodied by a likely shark attack, Allison’s bones protruded from her body in three places. With a single flipper left to her name, the turtle would not survive in the ocean. She was set to be euthanized. But an intern at Sea Turtle Inc asked that the animal be given a little more time. Allison’s wounds healed. Soon she could swim in tight circles in her tank. When she needed to breathe, she pushed her head against the bottom of the tank to propel herself to the surface. In February of last year, a dentist and two veterinarians attempted without success to fashion a prosthetic flipper for Allison. When a turtle was fitted surgically with a prosthetic in the past the creature quickly developed osteoporosis. With a single flipper, Allison’s expected life span of 100 years would be long and lonesome. She would likely grow to more than 500 pounds and 5 ˝ feet in length and Sea Turtle Inc. employees worried her single flipper would no longer be enough to propel her around a small tank. Tom Wilson, a 21-year-old intern, wondered if the same principles that make a canoe move straight could help a wounded sea turtle. Wilson then designed a sleek black suit with a fin on the back. Now, when Allison thrusts her front flipper, a carbon-fiber fin acts as a rudder and propels her straight forward. The center will continue to fashion new jackets for her as she continues to grow. “She can’t be released - she wouldn’t survive,” a spokesman for the center said. “Her future is to educate people about the endangerment of sea turtles.” Source: Brownsville Herald, 8 April 2009.

Xcaret, Mexico’s biggest private ecological park, will set a record this year by releasing 2,000 baby turtles that hatched in the park as part of a successful program of breeding program. Located south of Cancun on the Mexican Caribbean, Xcaret began in 1993 its so-called Initiation Program, which consists of maintaining for 15 months two nesting sites for turtles in captivity, who are then released into the sea after receiving special care and feeding by a team of veterinarians. Xcaret Park regularly sets free turtles that are 30 centimeters (1 foot) long and therefore have a greater chance of surviving the predators lying in wait for them. The turtles are released with tourists looking on. “One of the program’s main goals is to raise people’s awareness about the plight of marine turtles in Mexico,” said Ana Cecilia Negrete, coordinator of operations and preventive medicine for marine turtles in Xcaret. The principal dangers to Mexico’s turtles include the invasion of beaches by people, sport fishing, the depredation of their nests by some communities that still eat their flesh and eggs, and injuries to some of them by outboard motors on boats. Xcarethas also undertaken since 2003 the treatment and cure of those found injured or stranded. Veterinarians at the park have achieved a recovery rate of 98.4 percent for the turtles they receive. In addition, Xcaret protects Xcacel Beach to the south of the Maya Riviera, the main nesting ground for the country’s green sea turtles. At that location, from May to October up to 6,000 turtle nests can be found, of which Xcaret takes two for its installations. Source: Latin American Herald Tribune, 4 April 2009.

In Angola, the Municipal Administration of Lobito and the Marine Research Regional Institute intend to create soon in the Egipto Praia commune a “Reserve Zone” for the reproduction of turtles. The information was given Monday by the Lobito administrator, Amaro Segunda Ricardo. According to the district administrator, this Reserve Zone creation project aims at protecting this species that is in extinction. Government authorities are doing the work of mobilizing financial and human resources to support the project, which will bring about gains for tourism and the environment. Data from the Marine Research Regional Institute reveal that the seafront in Egipto Praia commune is a region in which turtles lay eggs, but because many people collect them on a daily basis, the species cannot reproduce. Source: Agęncia Angola Press, 10 February 2009.

Plastic fishing nets - some bought for poor fishermen with American aid money - are tangling whales and turtles off of Diani beach, one of Africa’s most popular beaches with American and European tourists. The fishermen traditionally used hooks and hand lines to haul in their catch, which they then sold to tourist hotels. The use of plastic nets has become common as growing populations have competed to catch shrinking supplies of fish, marine biologist David Obura said. In 2003, USAID began a four-year project worth US $575,000 to improve the lives of coastal communities. The project provided freezers for the fishermen to store their catch, and boats and nets. But the plastic nets are destroying the very ecosystems that the fishermen depend on and the tourists come to see, said a local diving school owner. Officials, experts and even the fishermen themselves acknowledge the nets are killing wildlife and coral. The aim of the project was to help lift local people out of poverty, said a USAID official involved in the initiative. But there were no studies to show how the kind of equipment supplied might affect the marine life. A USAID spokesman acknowledged that USAID was “partly” responsible but also was dependent on local organizations to provide information. The project did not provide the type of nets or long fishing lines, which catch fish without entangling other marine life that fishermen requested, said a member of the local fishermen’s associations. The fishermen, who say their old hook-and-line method never caught turtles or whales, practice conservation where they can. One fisherman said most marine animals are trapped by nets left on the reefs overnight to catch lobsters for the tourists. The fishermen interviewed by The Associated Press agreed that their livelihoods depended on preserving the seas and were interested in trying long lines if they were provided. But USAID’s involvement with the fishermen’s group had been finished for a year and a half, and there were no plans to replace the nets. In addition to the growing groups of poor fishermen crowding onto the reefs, huge European and Asian trawlers much further offshore are overfishing the deeper coastal waters. One fisherman said the nets provided with USAID funds have increased the fishermen’s average daily earnings from $4.50 to $7 — still less than a tourist pays for a fish fillet at an expensive hotel. Khamis knew the nets could be destructive, but had three sets of school fees to pay totaling $460 a year and no other options for work in a country riddled with corruption and poverty. He says he could not afford to sacrifice his children’s future for a turtle’s. Source: Associated Press, 26 March 2009.