Labourers go to rescue of turtles trapped in fishing nets
Published: October 1, 2005
ABOUT 40 turtles trapped in nets and dumped into the sea by a foreign fishing vessel were rescued by workers building a resort at Pulau Menggalum, some 60km from Kota Kinabalu.
The turtles were still entangled in the nets when they were pulled out on Monday by the workers who had gone to check on the fishing vessel.
Police were alerted about the presence of the fishermen on Tuesday and immediately dispatched an aircraft and a marine patrol boat but the trawler had disappeared by the time they got there.
“We are continuing our search for the vessel,” state Marine Police chief Asst Comm Mohd Sueb Abdullah said yesterday.
The construction workers spotted the trawler off Menggalum early on Monday and several of them had gone out in a small boat to check if foreign fishermen were fishing there.
As the workers approached the vessel, one of the foreign fishermen fired into the air prompting the workers to turn back to the island.
Later, after noticing that the fishing vessel had disappeared, the workers returned to the same area and saw about 50 fishing nets in the sea.
They were startled to discover that there were about 40 turtles trapped in the nets and immediately released them.
The workers, however, were only able to alert their employer about the fishing vessel on Tuesday.
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