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Tuesday, May 8, 2007 – Poachers often armed with cutlasses are
responsible for the disruption of crucial turtle watches that allow fisheries
officials to monitor the species within any habitat or nesting area. Of major
concern to fisheries officials are communities on the island's north eastern
coast.
“We had a sea turtle moritorium, a ban on sea turtles in 1996 which expired in
2004. The watches with the Des Barras group began in 2001 and up to 2004 we got
some good numbers and some good data. However in 2005 and in 2006 the watches
had to be prematurely terminated because there are poachers on the beach in the
Grand Anse area.. They would take the eggs and they would also kill the
turtles,” said Fisheries Biologist, Dawn Pierre-Nathoniel.
She said very often the Fisheries department would find that the turtles were
captured for their eggs even before they nested.
“Sometimes the turtles were taken for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities and
the rest of the turtles was left to rot. Now we know that fishers do not do that
kind of thing. They go out there at sea and fish for sea turtles. The Saint
Lucian public generally prefers the meat of the hawksbill turtle and the green
turtle, not the leatherback – which is supposedly more bitter and less tasty.
it's supposedly not tasty. While there are people who could prepare it in a
tasty manner the point remains that it is not a sought after species,” she
added.
The Grand Anse and Petite Anse beaches on the island's north eastern coast have
fast become a burying ground for turtles, many of which are partially buried due
to the haste in which poachers destroy them.
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