Rare sea turtle found dead at popular Sittwe beach

By DMG 07 Oct 2021

DMG Newsroom
7 October 2021, Sittwe

A rare species of sea turtle was found dead at Point Beach in the Arakan State capital Sittwe on Wednesday evening.

The dead Pyinthar turtle was an adult measuring about two feet in diameter, and was washed up on the shore, a witness said.

“I found injuries on its body and it was tangled in fishing nets,” he said.

Daw Kalyar, country representative of the Turtle Survival Alliance, speculated that the rare sea turtle was found dead along the shoreline after being trapped in a fishing net, or was killed in blast fishing, or was hit by the propeller of a motorboat.

The turtle is one of 577 “fully protected” wildlife species in Myanmar under environmental law.

“The Pyinthar turtle is a rare turtle species. Sea turtles live in the water, but they breathe [air] in their lungs. So, it might have died from the entry of water in its lungs when it was trapped in a fishing net. It might have died because of blast fishing, or because of an injury after being hit by the propeller of a motorboat, because it is hardly [likely that it is] dead due to a disease,” Daw Kalyar said.

She added that sea turtles in Myanmar are on the edge of extinction due to reckless fishing practices and because people eat their eggs.

A technology that can help turtles avoid the all-too-common fishing net death trap should be adopted to protect their lives, she suggested.

The killing and sale of protected wildlife is punishable with prison time ranging from three to 10 years under Section 19(a) of the 2018 Conservation of Biodiversity and Protected Areas Law.