Chinese poachers to blame for sharp fall in turtle numbers off Japan, says conservation group
- Police in Zhoushan found 128 dead turtles in a truck, two of which had been tagged by conservation group on the southern Japanese island of Yakushima
- Founder of the group says turtle numbers on the island have fallen by a quarter in five years
A Japanese conservation group has accused Chinese poachers of being behind the sharp decline in the number of sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs on the southern island of Yakushima.
Yakushima Umigame-kan, a non-profit organisation that operates a small visitor centre on the north-west coast of the island off Kyushu, was contacted in October by researchers from China’s Zhejiang University, after local police arrested smugglers in Zhoushan with 128 dead turtles in a truck.
Two female turtles seized by police had been tagged by Yakushima Umigame-kan volunteers when they had come to lay their eggs on the island; one in July 2008 and the other in June this year.
“We know they had been here on Yakushima because they still had our monitoring tags on them when they were found by the police, although we have no way of telling just how they came to be in China,” said Yuji Honda, a spokesman for the group.
The island of Yakushima has been recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site for its spectacular flora and fauna. It is the largest nesting area for loggerhead turtles in the North Pacific, with an estimated 50 per cent of the region’s population nesting here every year.
Other endangered species of turtles also inhabit the waters around the island, including green turtles and red turtles.