Saturday, 3 December 2022
A project begun 30 years ago to protect green sea turtle nests has been extended to help reduce the number of turtles being trapped in fishing nets, Kibris Postasi reports.
According to board member of the Northern Cyprus Turtle Conservation Society (SPOT) Dr. Damla Beton, in the last two years, SPOT has distributed 4,500 illuminated devices out of the 7,5000 for fishermen to attach to their nets to prevent sea turtles becoming bycatch.
“These devices, which are attached to the nets, emit a green light in the water and prevent the turtles from being caught in the fishing nets“, she said.
Noting that the incidence of green sea turtles being caught in fishing nets has decreased by 40 percent thanks to the distribution of illuminated devices, Beton emphasised that they hope to reduce the number of nettings by 50-60 percent with the help of further cooperation from the fishermen and the distribution of more devices.
She said that SPOT had held a meeting with local fisherman and asked for their cooperation in attaching the lighting devices to their nets in order to avoid sea turtles becoming entangled.
