Within only a couple of weeks during their breeding season, more than 100 olive ridley turtles were found dead at Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar Beach. Conservationists blame the indiscriminate use of fishing nets as one of the major reasons behind the incident. Bangladesh is host to five out of seven sea turtle species: olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea). The olive ridley turtle is the most common, while the others visit Bangladesh’s coasts in much fewer numbers. The olive ridleys, which are vulnerable under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), usually arrive at Bangladesh’s coasts from October to April seeking favorable conditions like warmer weather to lay eggs before returning to the sea. The turtle’s main nesting grounds are the islands of the country’s southeastern district, Cox’s Bazar, in the Bay of Bengal. “Though the death of olive ridley turtle is not rare on Bangladesh coasts during their breeding period, this year’s the number is huge as it crossed more than a hundred in the last few weeks,” said Shital Kumar Nath, a wildlife researcher and project director at Community Development Centre (CODEC) Bangladesh. “Based on our analysis, we apprehend the turtles clashing with fishing nets and later getting injured as one of the main reasons behind such a high death toll,” he said. About 1.63 million fishers in Bangladesh rely on fishing for their livelihood, mostly venturing into the sea…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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