Unlawful Commerce Is Pushing Bangladesh’s Freshwater Turtles to the Brink

By Sadiqur Rahman

The Bangladesh Forest Division just lately confiscated a big cargo of freshwater turtles from smugglers within the capital metropolis.
Specialists say the buyer base for freshwater turtles is increasing in Bangladesh and attribute the elevate in demand to the rising overseas residents, primarily from East Asia, who’re employed within the nation’s infrastructural growth tasks.
Conservationists warn that if the freshwater turtle commerce isn’t managed, it might drive a number of turtle species to extinction.

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On Dec. 28, 2024, wildlife inspectors from Bangladesh’s Forest Division, following a tip-off, intercepted an intercity bus in Dhaka. They found two crates filled with dwell turtles within the baggage compartment.

The bus operators acknowledged that the consignment was destined for Sherpur within the northern district of Bogura, roughly 270 kilometers (168 miles) from the Comilla Freeway (N114), the place it was loaded. “Every day, similar consignments are transported along this route,” mentioned Siddikul Islam, the bus driver.

Following the raid, on Dec. 30, the wildlife inspectors tracked down a short lived turtle storage warehouse in a moist market in Chandpur, a riverine district neighboring Comilla. There, they reportedly confiscated 1,300 dwell freshwater turtles, collectively weighing 280 kilograms (617 kilos). All three species they discovered — the Indian roofed turtle (Pangshura tecta), the Indian eyed turtle (Morenia petersi) and the Indian flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata) — are protected species beneath Bangladesh’s Wildlife (Conservation and Safety) Act, 2012.

Earlier, on Dec. 10, the Forest Division had raided one other momentary storage warehouse in Chandpur and seized 800 kg (1764 lbs.) of turtles belonging to the identical three freshwater species.

Sanaullah Patwary, director of the Forest Division’s Wildlife Crime Management Unit (WCCU), mentioned he was gravely involved. He informed Mongabay that the confiscation of such giant portions of smuggled turtles inside simply 20 days signifies an alarming enlargement of the unlawful turtle commerce in Bangladesh.

Regardless of a ban on turtle buying and selling within the nation since 1998, the searching and smuggling of freshwater turtles have continued, catering to restricted native consumption and illicit trafficking to neighboring India. Nonetheless, the smuggling routes, notably these connecting the sourcing areas to different distant components of the nation, have raised hypothesis on a much bigger menace.

“Many foreigners are in Bangladesh working on mega infrastructure projects. We suspect that their demand for turtle meat may have contributed to this increase,” Sanaullah mentioned.

Market expands amid new customers

Bangladesh, crisscrossed by a whole bunch of rivers and dotted with water our bodies comparable to canals, streams, estuaries, beels (lake-like wetlands), ponds and swimming pools, offers numerous habitats for freshwater wildlife.

Out there research counsel that skilled searching teams catch turtles from the waterbodies and their nests and retailer them in momentary warehouses earlier than transporting them to Dhaka and some different districts.

The wildlife inspectors mentioned a bunch of smugglers linked to skilled hunters has been working this unlawful commerce from the raided locations for years beneath the guise of farming and buying and selling swamp eels (Synbranchidae).

Some ethnic communities in Bangladesh devour turtle meat as a part of their conventional festive food plan. Moreover, turtle meat is offered in sure upscale areas of Dhaka the place overseas residents dwell.

A 2013 examine highlighted the widespread locations for dwell turtle provide in Bangladesh — Dhaka, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Gopalganj and Madaripur.

On Dec. 28, the smugglers had been transporting the turtles to Sherpur in Bogura through Dhaka. Sherpur is a key junction for regional street connections to the northern districts comparable to Rangpur and Dinajpur, the place Chinese language companies are engaged in varied developmental tasks, together with street building.

In the meantime, the close by Pabna district hosts a big Russian workforce concerned in constructing the nation’s first nuclear energy plant.

“Given the presence of foreigners in northern and other parts of Bangladesh, we suspect the market of turtle meat has expanded. We have preliminary evidence that live turtles and trophies, including carapaces, are being smuggled to India from northern border districts,” mentioned Ashim Mallick, one of many wildlife inspectors at WCCU.

Pushing freshwater turtles towards extinction

The 2013 examine additionally recognized sure freshwater turtle species which might be regularly traded, all of that are presently globally threatened beneath to the IUCN Crimson Record — the endangered Ganges softshell turtle (Nilssonia gangeticus), the endangered noticed pond turtle (Geoclemys hamiltonii), the endangered Indian eyed turtle (Morenia petersi), the endangered Indian roofed turtle (Pangshura tecta) and the susceptible peacock softshell turtle (Aspideretes hurum).

A examine in 1990 discovered common commerce of some freshwater turtles together with the narrow-headed softshell turtle (Chitra indica), northern river terrapin (Batagur baska), Sylhet roofed turtle (Pangshura sylhetensis) and the Brahminy river turtle (Hardella thurjii). All 4 species had been categorized as critically endangered or endangered in IUCN’s 2015 Crimson Record of Bangladesh.

The 2015 Crimson Record assessed 30 Testudines in Bangladesh, categorizing 22 species as threatened and 4 as near-threatened.

Shafique Haider Chowdhury, a retired zoology professor at Bangladesh’s Chittagong College and a technical reviewer of the 2015 Crimson Record, warns that habitat loss and trying to find the meat market might push even presently secure turtle populations into threatened classes.

Freshwater turtles in Bangladesh are primarily aquatic, coming ashore solely to put eggs. Most are omnivorous or carnivorous, and a few even scavengers, taking part in a significant function in sustaining ecological steadiness.

Shafique mentioned he’s involved that, whereas Indian roofed turtles and noticed flapshell turtles had been assessed as ‘least concern’ within the 2015 Crimson Record of Bangladesh, unchecked smuggling might quickly transfer them into threatened classes.

“It would not be surprising if the next Red List, expected to start assessment in late 2025, categorizes all remaining turtle species [in Bangladesh] as threatened,” he mentioned.

Sanaullah famous that industrial fish farming has destroyed a lot of the habitat for turtles and different essential aquatic species in Bangladesh, notably within the northern areas. He mentioned, “We need support from civic groups to stop turtle smuggling. Otherwise, these species will become extinct.”

Banner picture: Seized dwell turtles belonging to Pangshura tecta, Morenia petersi and Lissemys punctata species quickly sheltered on the Forest Division enclosures earlier than releasing them into the wild once more. Picture by Sadiqur Rahman.

Citations:

Das, I. (1990). The commerce in freshwater turtles from Bangladesh. Oryx. 24. 163 – 166. doi:10.1017/S0030605300033895

Shamsurrahman, M., Mamun, A., Rahman, M., Hossain, M. B., Minar, M. H., Maheen, N. J. (2013). Unlawful Advertising of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises in Completely different Markets of Bangladesh. American-Eurasian Journal of Scientific Analysis 8(1): 15-23. doi:10.5829/idosi.aejsr.2013.8.1.66124

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Beforehand Revealed on information.mongabay with Inventive Commons Attribution

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