TURKS RESCUE 50 ENDANGERED SEA TURTLES FROM NETS
Date: 20-May-99
Country: Turkey
Anatolian news agency reported that gendarmarie officer Okay Sutcuoglu organised a group of fishing boats to travel 30 km (19 miles) from the town of Tarsus and rescue the snared animals.
But three of the turtles, often known by their scientific name "Caretta Caretta", had drowned by the time the rescue operation ended three hours later, Anatolian said. The dead turtles weighed 85 kg (187 lb) each.
Loggerhead turtles have migrated to beaches along Greece and Turkey's Mediterranean coastline to lay their eggs for thousands of years.
Environmental groups say their numbers are dwindling under pressure from pollution, destruction of their coastal habitat and drowning in shrimp and fishing nets.
