Over 20 sea turtles dying off Phuket and Phang-Nga in two months

One of Thailand’s best known marine biologists is alerting us about the carnage for Phuket’s turtle population over the past two months.

More than 20 sea turtles have landed on beaches in Phuket and Phang-nga, most of them dying with the rest being seriously injured and little chance of survival in the past two months. Thorn Thamrongnavaswasdi, Vice Dean of the fisheries faculty of Kasetsart University, presented the grisly toll yesterday.

The marine scientist says that more than 20 green turtles and Olive Ridley turtles were found on Mai Khao beach in the north of Phuket and a beach in Phang-nga province in the past two months.

Most of them were already dead with plastic or pieces of fish net wrapped around their legs or necks. He added that the remaining turtles had serious wounds and were unlikely to survive even though they were taken to a rehabilitation centre for treatment.

Mai Khao and Thai Muang beaches have been a spawning ground for sea turtles which come to the beaches during October-February period. But Thorn said that the leatherback turtles have been missing for four years now.

He points out that floating plastic in the sea poses a serious threat to sea turtles. He says fishermen had stumbled on several sea turtles trapped in plastic bags or fish nets and helped to free them from the entanglement and brought them back to the shore for treatment.

Thorn said most of these sea turtles came back to spawn on the two beaches but many of them were caught in plastic traps in the sea and died.

SOURCE: Thai PBS