I love the sea turtles that have taken up residence in Port Stephens where we live. I get very saddened when I read about turtles that have died at the hands of marine pollution like plastic bags or caught in crab or fish traps. The population of sea turtles in Port Stephens is not large and the loss of every turtle is particularly unfortunate.
Earlier this year there were several instances of turtles dying in crab traps. The Port Stephens examiner discussed this on February 18th 2014 and March 18th 2014. Crab traps and witches hats have been found around the world to be a threat to marine animals like turtles. Recently at least two turtles have died in this type of fishing device.
Dr Bruce Pease, president of EcoNetwork Port Stephens as quoted in the examiner article;
“Witches hats are banned in Queensland and the Sea Life Conservation Fund is currently petitioning the NSW Minister for Primary Industries to save our turtles and phase out the use of witches hat crab traps in NSW.”
The problem with witches hats is that they often get discarded , left in the water, disconnected from their float and then result in a marine death trap at the bottom of the waterway. This is not a good outcome for our marine environment and in our beautiful marine park this is not a desirable practice.
Sealife Australia have a petition to ban this form of fishing. You can sign it below.