DHAKA, Jan 22, 2022 (BSS) - Celebrity Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio 
has congratulated the government of Bangladesh for establishing a Marine 
Protected Area around Saint Martin's Island, a small island in the 
northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. 

   In a tweet on Friday DiCaprio, a candid global climate campaigner, also 
praised the local communities and NGOs on the issue, saying that it will 
protect biodiversity of the Bangladesh's only coral reef. 

   "Congrats to the Government of Bangladesh, local communities & NGOs on a 
newly established Marine Protected Area around Saint Martin's Island that 
will protect an incredible community of biodiversity and provide key habitat 
for Bangladesh's only coral reef," DiCaprio wrote in his tweet.

    St. Martin's Island, also locally known as 'Narikel Zinzira', is a small 
island of only three square kilometers in the northeastern part of the Bay of 
Bengal and about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf peninsula. 

   Also a most admired tourist spot, St Martin's Island is a safe haven to 
various species of fauna. 

   The presence of 153 species of sea weeds, 66 species of coral, 187 species 
of oysters, 240 species of fish, 120 species of birds, 29 species of reptiles 
and 29 species of mammals were found in the St Martin's Island, according to 
a research report of the Department of Environment (DoE) and the UNDP.