Rise in threats to marine fauna
by Dhaneshi YATAWARA
A thousand sea snakes, 100 terrapins, 50 marine turtles and one or
two crocodiles get killed every month as a result of being trapped in
fishing nets, senior herpetologist Anslem de Silva said. De Silva
arrived at these figures during his ongoing islandwide investigation.
"The deaths are very tragic as these reptiles die due to suffocation
by getting entangled in the net. Sometimes, the fishermen cut the
flippers of turtles if they find them entangled in the nets," he said.
He also observed that 15 percent of sea snakes found discarded from
nets at landing sites were gravid (with eggs) females.
According to de Silva, the threats on the country's aquatic
herpetofauna, i.e. sea snakes, marine turtles, freshwater terrapins and
crocodiles, due to human activities is on the increase at an alarming
rate.
"The easiest method of avoiding this situation is to promote the use
of the Turtle Excluder Device (TED) which is internationally
recognised," de Silva said. "This device allows the turtles to escape
the net while keeping the fish in.
The escape patterns of turtles and fish are very different, thus the
method is very effective," he said. "The fishing communities need to be
made more aware of their responsibility in conserving these animals and
they need a supporting hand to implement such methods. On the other hand
an effective monitoring mechanism is essential in conservation," he
said.
For sea snakes, an inexpensive modification for trawl nets can be
introduced in a 15-centimetre square-mesh panel close to the entrance of
the net; strong swimming sea snakes can escape upwards out of this
window whereas prawns and small fish pass into the other end of the net.
More conservation-oriented methods to save the marine fauna are
looked into by the research team led by de Silva.
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