Search on for marine life killers |20 September 2006

The officials said this near the artisanal port where patrol officers removed the decomposing carcasses of the animals which included a turtle, ray fish and a variety of other fish.

The dead turtle was taken by a team from MENR who said they will examine it and try to verify its age.

“People used to use this kind of net in the past but it was outlawed in 1998,” SFA officials said, adding that sharks should now be caught only by hook and line, “and not within protected areas as this one was,” they said.

SFA said that the discovery of the net came during increased patrols in which wardens recently found and destroyed traditional nets with openings that were below the sizes allowed by law.

Eight fishermen were convicted by the Supreme Court after being found in possession of turtle meat in 2004, but they were later set free by the Court of Appeal.