Dying turtles washed ashore with garbage at Cox's Bazar beach

There are no fishing boats on the Bay of Bengal due to ban on fishing now. The sea is choppy in monsoon. In the meantime, huge amounts of discarded plastic items and electronics are floating ashore along with torn fishing nets from the trawlers. Some mother turtles were also floating ashore with the garbage at Kolatali point on the beach Sunday morning.

Local shell trader Shamsul Alam said huge amount of garbage started floating ashore with the tide last Saturday afternoon. Till Sunday afternoon, the waste spread about 10 km from Kolatali to Himchhari beach in the south. No initiative to remove the waste was taken till Sunday afternoon.

Some local fishermen said the turtles were alive when they were swept away by the tide. The turtles had injury marks on their bodies. The fishermen said, the turtles were probably injured and weakened by the solid waste and floated to the beach. Later stray dogs ate them.

Local children were seen carrying empty liquor bottles and plastic items lying on the beach to sell these at the stores.

Moazzem Hossain, chairman of Save the Nature Bangladesh, an environmental organization in Cox's Bazar, visited the beach Sunday and told Prothom Alo that at least 50-60 tonnes of waste had floated in an area of ​​10 km of the beach in the last two days. At least 20 dead mother turtles were seen on the beach.

A few of the turtles were carrying eggs. Over the last two days, they recovered eight injured turtles and released them back into the sea. As the waste has not been removed, the stench is spreading around the beach.

Local fishermen and environmentalists claim that a 65-day fishing ban has been imposed on since 20 May. But many domestic and foreign trawlers are fishing in the deep sea. Those trawlers are dumping waste in the sea while many mother turtles that came to lay eggs on the coast are dying as soon as they are caught in their nets.

District fisheries officer SM Khalequzzaman told Prothom Alo that they are investigating into why the waste and the mother turtles are floating ashore. A team from the fisheries department went to the beach and recovered three turtles and released them back into the sea.

There was no dead turtles on the beach now, only piles of waste, he added.

Regarding the cause of death of the turtles, the official said that excess waste in the water forms gas that reduces the oxygen level in the water.

Many marine creatures including turtles can die due to lack of oxygen at the time, he said further.

Cox's Bazar deputy director of the Department of Environment Sheikh Nazmul Huda said the turtles were dying after being caught in the fishing nets. But why the waste is floating is a matter that calls for inquiry.