On May 15, a dead Hawksbill Turtle (Hawksbill Turtle) was spotted in waters off Pulau Hantu in the southern waters of Singapore.
Little Science
Handu Island, which means "ghost island" in Malay, is located in the southern waters of Singapore. The island is picturesque, with its lagoons and beaches, and is also a favourite spot for fishing, swimming and diving enthusiasts.
A group of people were on their way to the island's coral reef when they saw turtles drifting in the distance, thinking they were mating with two turtles. As a result, a closer look revealed that it was a dead tortoiseshell turtle wrapped in a gillnet. Its body had begun to decompose, and the top layer of its shell had cracked and peeled off.
Divers who returned there to remove the bodies said the turtle's head had been cut off by a gillnet. Because the gillnet is so heavy, divers can't lift it off the seabed.
(Photo: Roy Kairos)
The community organization Singapore Marine Guide recreates the death of a hawksbill turtle through a video.
Video footage shows gillnets 100 meters long on the seabed trapping many species that fishermen don't want. The trapped tortoiseshell turtle was unable to surface to breathe and drowned. The body disintegrated, became swollen, and surfaced with a gillnet dragged.
The hawksbill turtle is currently in critical danger and is in danger of extinction, occasionally visiting the coast of Singapore and laying its eggs there.
Although they can lay 200 eggs per litter, survival rates are extremely low, with only 1 in 1,000 baby turtles surviving to adulthood. They are also often threatened by poachers and marine pollution.