156 olive ridley turtles found dead along Marina-Markanam coast

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

A total of 156 Olive Ridley Turtles have been found dead along the 120 km coastal stretch of Marina to Markannam in the last 10 days and more than 30 in the last two days between Neelankarai and Napier Bridge.

Tree Foundation’s Supraja Dharini, who is working with Fisheries department and Chief Wildlife Warden in the stretch between Neelankarai to Markannam said that they have found the caracas of 104 Olive Ridley turtles in the last 10 days which is alarming.

“This is just the beginning of the nesting season, which lasts from January to March. Turtles are important in the marine ecosystem and their numbers should not dwindle,” said Supraja, who is now working on an initiative to generate awareness among the fishermen on what to do when they catch the sea turtles.

She said that fisheries department has written 650 letters to the village heads of panchayat villages in Tamil Nadu on conserving turtles, including cutting of the net to let the turtle escape.

Interestingly, last year a total of 198 sea turtles died in the stretch during the nesting season. “The figures of 104 deaths is alarming,” said supraja.

R Nishanth, a volunteer of Student Sea Turtle Conservation Network, which is also being supported by the state forest department, said that they have found 30 caracass of Olive Ridley turtles during the two day of their walk between Neelankarai and Napier Bridge.

Akhila Balu, coordinator of Student Sea Turtle Conservation Network says they have till now they have found 52 caracasses of turtles between Neelankarai to Napier Bridge in the last 10 days.

The Olive Ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world, inhabiting warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Their numbers have been declining over the past few years, and the species is recognized as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)  Red list.

The turtles are usually found in the coast of Chennai between January to March as it is their nesting season. Nishanth and Akhila warn that unless measures like implementing the turtle excluder device or TED, a specialized device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman's net, is not carried out the species could become history. Supraja says that the state government is planning tto provide a demonstration on how to use TED devices.

Interestingly, fisheries department has been slow in preparartion for the nesting season. It was only when the dead sea turtles began surfacing along the coast that the department has started to react. Fisheries officials could not be reached.