No govt move to conserve St Martin’s Island

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Although St Martin’s Island has been announced an ecologically critical area no government agencies are active to conserve endangered resources in and around the country’s only coral island.

Local people and fishermen frequently kill endangered sea turtles and catch crabs as several restaurants serve dishes of crab and shark to unaware tourists. Besides, the locals also extract corals and stones to sell those as souvenirs.

During a recent visit to the St Martin’s a carcase of Olive Ridely turtle was found lying on the sand. Olive Ridely is treated as a critically endangered species.

“If we find the carcase of a turtle generally we burry it in the sand so that environment of the island remains unaffected,” said a resident.

He said a good number of turtles are netted and eventually killed by the fishermen. “The fishermen just sever turtles’ legs to save their net,” he said, adding that besides people, dogs also kill many turtles.

“So the number of turtles coming to the island to lay eggs has decreased significantly.”

Earlier, the government had issued a gazette notification ordering installation of Turtle Escape Device (TED) in fishing net but no-one is using that, said a former official who worked with the St Martin’s conservation project.

Most of the residents don’t have knowledge about ecology conservation. One of them, Dulu Mia, said they sell crabs and sharks to some restaurants in addition to fish. Allahr Daan is one of such restaurants where crab dishes are always available.

Rony, a worker of the restaurant, said they sell crab at Tk 40 to Tk 50 per dish.

“Turtle dish is not always available, but we can manage it if anyone gives us prior notice,” he said. Besides Allahr Daan, crab is available at Daruchini, St Martin’s Tourist Park and Hazi Salam Restaurant, he added.

Abdul Hamid sells fried crab to the tourists on Chera Dwip [a small island south off St Martin's] at Tk 10 to Tk 15 per piece. While frying crab under the open sky, he said he cuts the small bush of the island for firewood.

According to the Environment Protection Act, 1997, no-one can conduct any activities harmful for ecology in an ecologically critical area (ECA).

Asked, Hamid said he has no idea about ecology and its conservation.

Considering the island’s rich natural biodiversity, the government in a gazette notification declared St Martin’s an ECA on April 19, 1999.

As part of establishing a marine park there, the government on July 29 issued another gazette notification prohibiting activities destructive to the flora and fauna of the island.

Extraction of coral, seashell and conch, cutting trees and building structures were also restricted in the gazette.

The government later undertook a project to conserve the biodiversity, establish a marine park and develop ecotourism facilities on the island. The project expired in June last year and since then no government agency is taking care of the island’s ecology.

“The government is planning to extend the project for another five years,” said one of the former project directors.

The hotels and restaurants are being operated on the island without official approval and they are contributing to destroying ecology over the years.

The government is however turning a blind eye to the situation.

As many as 33 privately owned hotels and restaurants are currently doing business on St Martin’s, a 3.34-square-kilometre island with only 5,000 inhabitants and another 1,000 illegal Rohingyas.

Most of these businesses were launched in the last eight years soon after the government decided to establish a marine park there.

Thousands of tourists visit the St Martin’s every year for its crystal clear blue seawaters, scenic beauty, corals, shells, conch and giant crabs.

According to Saint Martin’s Hotel Owners’ Association sources, no less than 60,000 tourists visited the island last year. Every year the number of tourists is increasing.

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