Through the nesting season of Olive Ridley Turtles, the Chennai Wildlife division has collected 32,224 eggs and have released 19,508 hatchlings into the sea so far.
C.H. Padma, Wildlife Warden, Chennai said that teams of officials from the Forest Department, conservationists and fishermen had found a total of 301 nests from Marina to Neelankarai and Pulicat.
“Larger teams of forest officials and volunteers used to patrol the beaches every night before concerns about COVID-19 began. Following the lockdown and restrictions in place, we limited the patrol teams to not more than two or three people and collected eggs from the beaches till around April 10,” Ms. Padma said.
Based on the location they were collected at, the eggs were taken to the Forest Department hatcheries at Kovalam, Besant Nagar, or Pulicat. While the Olive Ridley nesting season begins from January and can even go on till May, the peak nesting season is usually around mid-February to the end of March.
Compared to last year, the number of eggs found have been fewer but conservationists and Forest Department officials said that it was normal to have a low nesting season once every few years. “The lower nesting this year has also meant that we have seen fewer dead turtles being washed ashore,” Ms. Padma added. Last year, the Department had collected around 50,600 eggs.
Instead of roping in the general public as volunteers, the Forest Department this year focused on college and school students and created awareness among them about Olive Ridley turtle conservation.
