Phuket Tragedy: Tourists, Trawlers, But No Turtles

Chutima Sidasathian PhuketWan 1 Oct 10;

Photo by Phuket Marine Biology Centre

THIS sad photograph could mark the end of the line for Phuket's remarkable leatherback turtles. It's the remains of a male, a giant of 200 kilos, about 20 years old. The carcass was washed up at Bang Tao beach yesterday.

Phuket Marine Biology Centre specialist Dr Kongkiat Kittwattanawong said that he feared the death of the male could signify the end of an era. He pleaded for trawlers to be careful, because 60 percent of turtle deaths are from nets.

Locals who were around when leatherbacks were plentiful say that it was a time of great joy whenever a female came ashore to lay eggs, ''looking as big as a Honda Jazz.''

That may sound an exaggeration but the leatherback is the largest turtle. One specimen weighed in at above 900 kilometres and longer than three metres.

The laying of two batches of eggs by leatherbacks earlier this year led biologists to hope that the big creatures might be returning to Phuket. However, the eggs were not fertilised, so there were no hatchlings.

Hence the concern . . . could this have been the last adult male leatherback capable of continuing the breed off the Phuket coast? There is no way of knowing for sure, but every moment of hope for the return of leatherbacks has so far been dashed.

There are too many reasons why the big turtles cannot come back.

Leatherbacks have so far proven virtually impossible to breed in hatcheries. Unlike other turtles, the young leatherbacks cannot turn.

The result is that they beat themselves to death by repeatedly swimming straight into walls.

The decades-old photographs of huge leatherbacks laying eggs in the sand along Phuket beaches may soon be the only evidence that the wonderful creatures were once here.

Last night the large male leatherback, dead for about two weeks, was buried under the sand at Bang Tao.

Trawler net kills giant Phuket turtle
Phuket Wan 1 Oct 10;

PHUKET: A 250-kilogram male leatherback turtle was found dead at Phuket's popular Bang Tao Beach in Cherng Talay yesterday afternoon.

“The 2.5-meter-long turtle had died at least two weeks earlier. Its body was tangled up in a large section of trawler fishing net,” Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) biologist Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong told the Gazette.

“People found the turtle floating in the sea around noon yesterday, before it washed ashore near the Sunwing Phuket Resort about 4pm. PMBC officers went to examine it at 6pm,” he said.

Local residents who had gathered around to see the huge carcass buried the turtle's body on the beach in front of the resort around 7pm, he added.

“Leatherback turtles are very rarely spotted around here these days. Probably only about five turtles return to lay eggs in Phuket,” said Dr Kongkiat.

“This time of year, the turtles come to breed in the sea before the females lay their eggs on the beaches,” he added.

The marine life expert pointed out that the leatherbacks breeding area is about six kilometers offshore.

However, the marine-turtle protection zone covers only three kilometers from the beach, he said.

“The PMBC plans to ask Department of Marine and Coastal Resources to extend the zone to cover six kilometers from where the turtles lay their eggs,” he said.

“We are now in discussions with the relevant organizations and we will draw up the plan together and send it to the department soon,” he said.