Researchers use tracking device on rare turtle
Researchers of Marinelife Alliance have set a satellite transmitter on the hard shell of a female green turtle to observe its migration route and habitat.
The endangered green turtle, the second largest turtle species, is a remote nester and rarely seen in Bangladesh coast due to habitat loss.
In a press release yesterday, Marinelife Alliance, a platform working for the marine biodiversity conservation, said the green turtle was now travelling along Hatiya and Sandwip islands after it had been released at Sonadia Island in Cox's Bazar on March 5. Yesterday, it was found 30 kilometres southeast from Chittagong city.
The green turtle went to Sonadia Island on the night of March 4 and dug a hole in the sand for one and a half hours before laying 131 eggs. The researchers of Marinelife Alliance have protected those eggs to ensure safe hatching.
They lay eggs every 2-4 years. The eggs need approximately 60 days to hatch.
In December 2016, a monitoring device was also fixed on a juvenile green turtle. The last signal from the monitoring device showed that the turtle was near Kuakata of Patuakhali.
Marinelife Alliance and the Bangladesh Forest Department have jointly been conducting sea turtle conservation and monitoring programme along entire Bangladesh coast since 2013.
In Bangladesh, green turtles are very rare now and have recently been spotted at Sonadia and some other spots of Teknaf peninsula and St Martin's Island.
Comments