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Journalism of Courage
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Jan 24: Fishermen in Bangladesh are slaughtering hundreds of marine turtles every week, an environmental report said on Wednesday.
More than 400 turtles were killed in the last two weeksalone along a 100 km (80 mile) stretch of coast between the towns of Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf, the study complied by the Cox’s Bazar Environment Journalists Forum said.
"We have launched a campaign to make people aware of theneed for conserving nature and saving the turtles," forum President Nurul Islam said.
Bangladesh’s Forest and Environment Minister Begum SajedaChowdhury also issued an appeal at the weekend to save the turtles.
Turtles coming from the Bay of Bengal to lay eggs often gettrapped in fishermen’s nets and then killed.
"We kill the turtles, especially the big ones, because theytear our nets," the report quoted fisherman Jafar Alam as saying.
Those which make it past the nets to the shore lay up to300 eggs each, the report said. But many eggs and young turtles are eaten by animals and birds, resulting in only a small number of turtles making it back to the sea.
Turtles are not eaten in mainly Muslim Bangladeshis, butwhen caught some are exported to India, where turtles are eaten.
The report did not specify how endangered turtles inBangladesh were nor which species it was referring to.
