Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday said the number of cases of poaching of sea turtles have dropped following their protection. Sea turtles were first protected under a 10-year moratorium in 1995, under the Fisheries Act. The moratorium was later renewed for another 10-years in 2005, until recently in April this year, turtle poaching was banned and turtles were protected under the Environment Protection and Preservation Act. The inclusion of sea turtles in the list of protected species provides more effective protection and stringent penalties on poachers.
Director General at EPA Ibrahim Naeem said the number of cases of poaching for sea turtles have dropped significantly following the protection of turtles. EPA has been conducting awareness programmes on sea turtle conservation, he said. “Heavy fines are now imposed on poachers who violate the law and exploited turtles. This was followed by a drop in the number of reported cases of sea turtle poaching,” Naeem said. He added that “we are currently conducting awareness programmes across the country. I believe the programmes are bearing fruit, as the number of cases have dropped significantly”.
Director General at the Environment Ministry Mohamed Zahir said turtle abundance in their feeding and nesting grounds throughout the country has also been increasing following their protection. He noted that sightings of sea turtles have also increased across all parts of the country. “We are seeing positive results of the moratorium and protection of sea turtles,” he said. Zahir added that “we are receiving reports from dive schools, tourists and locals about increasing sea turtle sightings. It is a very positive sign to notice an increased number of turtle sightings, especially in the crossing between Malé and Hulhulé, which used to be a rare sight earlier.”
As per the Environment Protection and Preservation Act, any act of exploitation of turtles and harvesting their eggs is banned and punishable by law. Of the seven species of marine turtles in the world, five species have been recorded in the Maldives, the green turtle, hawksbill turtle, olive ridley turtle, loggerhead turtle and leatherback turtle. The most commonly occurring are the green and hawksbill turtles and they are known to occur throughout the Maldives. All five species of turtles found in the Maldives are on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).