Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Different Hooks to Save Sea Turtles

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

GUATEMALA CITY, Aug 30 2004 (IPS) - The Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture launched a campaign to convince dorado and shark fishing operations to change the type of hooks they use as a means to prevent accidental capture of sea turtles, which are in danger of extinction. ''The goal is for around 3,000 fisherfolk to use a new kind of hook,'' Fraterno Díaz, coordinator of the ministry's fishing management and aquaculture division, told Tierramérica.

''This will help to strengthen and preserve the populations of the seven turtle species that have been found in the Pacific and Atlantic,'' said Díaz.

Martín Hall, a Mexican expert with the International Tuna Commission, explained in a Tierramérica interview that if current trends continue, and if the conventional fishhooks remain in use, at least two sea turtle species could be extinct in 30 years.

There are 38 sea turtle refuges in Guatemala, which has released 100,185 hatchlings.