Protected areas not exempt as blast fishing blows up in Sri Lanka 
By Malaka Rodrigo LK Source: mongabay 7/12/2022
Malaka Rodrigo
Credit: Dharshana Jayawardena
Blast fishing is widely practiced in the seas around Sri Lanka, with even marine parks and historical shipwrecks not immune to this illegal practice.
Authorities say blast fishers work as part of a network to evade capture and obtain explosives, including by smuggling them in by sea from India.
The easy availability of explosives transcends conservation issues and raises serious national security concerns, experts say, pointing to the use of explosives in a coordinated terrorist attack on churches during Easter of 2019.
Blast fishing also poses a threat to recreational divers, with a serious injury or even death spelling the end for Sri Lanka’s dive tourism industry that’s already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic crisis.
 

It was a perfect morning in Pigeon Island National Park in eastern Sri Lanka, where a group of tourists in a boat was taking in the rich marine life in the water around them. All of a sudden, there was a loud blast close by. As silence settled once again, they saw the fish that had been flitting nimbly about now either floating dead on the surface or struggling to swim. Through the clear water, they could see more dead fish in the seabed.

 
Continue...

News Id SourceStampcountry
4601To Work With Six Identified Nations To Address Illegal, Unreported, And Unregulated FishingUnderwatertimes2009-01-13US
4602Fish Poop Helps Balance Ocean's Acid Levels; 'A Long-standing Puzzle Facing Marine Chemists'Underwatertimes2009-01-15UK
46032 Billion Tons: Researcher Gives First-ever Estimate Of Worldwide Fish Biomass And Impact On Climate ChangeUnderwatertimes2009-01-15CA
4604Gift Of Caviar May Be Product Of Endangered Species' Illegal HarvestUnderwatertimes2009-01-23US
4605NOAA: Restrictions Recommended As Three Common Pesticides Found To Harm SalmonUnderwatertimes2008-11-18US
4606Trout continues over fish plantingsfgate2011-12-08US
4607Fish Without the Catch: Seafood Alternatives Are on the Risesentientmedia2021-01-28CA
4608Lack of Vitamin B1 Killing Great Lakes Fishusgs2014-07-07US
4609Something was killing baby salmon. Scientists traced it to a food-web mysterylatimes2021-01-26US
4610Nine fishermen convicted of poachingAFP2008-11-05SW
4611Genes Hold Secret Of A 'Whole Range Of Biological Functions' In Survival Of Antarctic 'antifreeze Fish'Underwatertimes2008-10-16US
4612Rare wild salmon turns up in RhineUPI2008-10-15SZ
4613NOAA Charges 'Unscrupulous' Charter Operators With Illegal Fishing For Striped BassUnderwatertimes2008-11-14US
4614Atlantic Wolffish: Fearsome Fish That Deserve Protection? 'Rapidly Headed Toward Extinction'Underwatertimes2008-10-02US
4615Pictured: The incredible Siamese twin fish conjoined at the stomachdailymail2008-10-03UK
4616Dutch make hole in the dyke to allow migrating fish throughDutchNews2021-01-26DK
4617Doctors In Colombia Remove 18cm Fish From Man's Throatladbible2021-01-21CO
4618Investigation into River Sheppey pollution that killed 8,000 fish still ongoing after 18 monthssomersetlive2021-01-27UK
4619The Warrior Society rises: how a mercury spill in Canada inspired a movementtheguardian2018-10-16CA
4620For Grassy Narrows families, mercury is an intergenerational trauma. For political parties, it’s a federal election issuetheglobeandmail2019-10-09CA
46211976: Fishing for fun and death at Grassy Narrowscbc1976-03-23CA
4622Return to Grassy Narrowsreviewcanada2009-01-01CA
4623The interwoven history of mercury poisoning in Ontario and JapanCMAJ2017-02-06CA
4624Why the people of Grassy Narrows are still eating the fishtvo2018-12-17CA
4625Dozens charged in October for illegal night fishing on Rice Lake south of Peterboroughglobalnews2020-11-06CA

215 216 217 184 of [218 - pages.]