Straits Times 17 Jan 08;COX'S BAZAR (BANGLADESH) - DOZENS of endangered sea turtles have washed-up dead along the southern Bangladesh coast over the last week, conservation officials said yesterday.
At least 20 turtles, ranging from 40kg to 60kg, were found dead on Monday and Tuesday alone, and more were reportedly found on other parts of the sandy coast, conservation official M.A. Hannan said.
Pollution and the use of illegal nets by fishermen near the shoreline were believed to be responsible for the deaths of the Olive Ridley turtle species in Cox's Bazar district but conservationists were investigating, he said.
Olive Ridleys, the smallest of all sea turtles, are endangered. They come ashore during September to March to lay eggs along Bangladesh's coast, Mr Hannan said.
Last year, several hundred of the turtles died along the same coast, officials said.
Dr Ainun Nishat, local head of the Geneva-based World Conservation Union, said the government should focus on informing fishermen how to properly release turtles caught in their nets.
'We can prevent most of the deaths of the turtles if the fishermen are aware enough,' Dr Nishat said.
The government has launched a conservation project with the help of the United Nations Development Programme to protect turtle eggs on beaches.
'We have already collected more than 1,500 eggs for breeding this year,' said Mr Hannan.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bangladesh finds dead turtles on beach
Reuters 17 Jan 08;
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Bangladesh found at lest 40 dead turtles, some weighing 40 kg pounds) or more, on the beach of the Bay of Bengal over the past week, officials said on Thursday.
At least 10 of them were found dead on Thursday.
"I have seen more than a dozen carcasses of turtles, some of them were Olive Reedley, scattered on the vast beach, during my resent tour," a senior ecological official told Reuters in Cox's Bazar, 400 km (250 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka.
The turtles die mostly in winter and last year officials and fishermen reported the death of more than 200 turtles along the Cox's Bazar sea beach.
No one seems to know why the sea creatures are dying.
Marine officials believed the turtles died after being caught in fishing nets. But fishermen said they avoided such big turtles, as they often tear their fishing nets and other gears.
Environment experts said the deaths could be caused by increased pollution in the bay, from waste disposal of ships or perhaps other unknown natural causes.
Bangladesh has a 120-km (75 miles) natural beach from Cox's Bazar to Teknaf, which is poorly maintained and monitored.
(Reporting by Mohammad Nurul Islam, writing by Nizam Ahmed)