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.
Source:http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/05/01/new32.asp
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