The serene and clean coast of North Malabar attracts a large number of olive ridley turtles to its shores during nesting period every year. However, the turtles skipping the sandy shores this season have left conservationists worried.
The changing climatic conditions and large-scale fishing are posing huge threats to the turtles. Their numbers have drastically reduced as the nesting season ends this month. The turtles lay eggs on Kerala’s sandy shores during the November-March season.
The district of Kasaragod had witnessed the largest number of nesting sites of the turtles in the past several years. As many as 45 nesting sites were identified in the district in the past. However, over the last few years, the numbers have seen a change.
While 12 nesting sites were found in Kasaragod last year, the numbers have dwindled to just four this year. Conservationists like C. Sudheer Kumar, a member of Naithal, which is involved in the conservation of turtles here, said it was alarming and reflected the bad health of the coastal ecosystem. In addition to changing climate conditions and the presence of sea walls, a large number of fishing boats, especially those arriving from Mangalore, are also threatening the turtles.
The turtles were either moving to other areas or were getting caught in fishing nets, said Mr. Sudheer Kumar, adding that they found at least 35 turtles which were badly injured after getting caught in abandoned nets. At least 15 of those turtles died despite being given treatment, he added.
In recent years, development activities adjoining the shores have also affected nesting. The turtles move away if there is light or too many activities going on near the shore area. Immediate measures had to be taken to protect the areas if the number of nesting sites had to be increased, he said.
Dead turtles found
Pareparambil Murukan, coordinator, Marine Turtle Conservation, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), said several cases of dead turtles being found were reported from the State. He said community conservation would help protect the turtles reaching the shores.
The turtles had their nesting sites annually at places such as Thottappally in Alappuzha, Chavakkad in Thirssur, certain pockets of Malapuram and Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod.
At Chavakkad
Mr. Murukan said Chavakkad had the highest number of nesting sites in the State. This season, 64 nesting sites have been identified there and it was made possible due to the conservation efforts taken by the community adjoining the area.
Fisherman and local groups have joined hands to conserve the turtles. Night patrolling and safeguarding the eggs had helped conserve the turtles, he added.
Each nesting site had an average of 100 eggs and about 5,000 turtles hatched at Chavakkad due to constant conservation efforts there, he said. Kasaragod had the second largest number of nesting sites in the State and efforts by the local community could play a major role in conservation, he added.
