Sea turtle - Picture Mila Zinkova

More than 30 sea turtles have washed up in Guatamala’s southern coast, dead, mutilated and showing signs of suffocation, authorities have reported.

The National Council of Protected areas has said that the turtles were discovered on the beaches of Sipacate and Monterrico.

Upon closer examination the turtles appeared to have succumbed to suffocation after having been trapped in fishing nets, the organization went on to explain, they added that the fishermen responsible were using fish hooks in zones labeled as being “off limits”.

According to the law of Guatamala, fishing nets are supposed to have a turtle excluder device (TED), which will allow any turtles trapped by accident to escape quickly, easily and unharmed.

The reason that this is most troubling is due to the fact that the nesting season has just gotten underway, and there are already efforts in place to protect these magnificent turtles which are already threatened. This statement comes from the head of the organization’s hydro-biological reources department, Jose Martinez.

There are six different kinds of sea turtle which nest in Guatamala, all of them are in danger of becoming extinct, due to human activities such as poaching, over harvesting of the eggs, and of course, pollution.

There are going to be further steps taken to help the protect the turtles, but it’s a big ocean, and there aren’t enough resources to provide for 24 hour surveillance of every nook and cranny.