Ocean Sentry
Five manatees have been found dead in the last six months along the coast near the Dominican northeast city Samaná, said the Environment Ministry Tuesday, one day after the finding of a new corpse of the protected marine mammal native to tropical estuaries.
It said a man was arrested for allegedly causing the death of a 2.5 meter long adult female found trapped with traumas and lacerations caused by a rope and illegal drag nets, in mangroves on the river Colorao, near the town Sanchez, Samaná province.
Technicians believe the manatee was alive when taken to that area, where it had been dead for at least four days when it was found decomposed, after local fishermen alerted the Environment Ministry. It said it’s the second female of the protected species to have been killed in Sanchez in less than one week.
It said the use of illegal drag nets by some fishermen in Sanchez and Sabana de la Mar causes the death of marine animals, prompting Environment officials to seize more than one hundred illegal and outboard motors and nets in the last two months, used in that “destructive and criminal” type of fishing.
(From dominicantoday.com, Santo Domingo)
