The nesting season of Olive Ridley turtles has begun on a death note.
About 250 dead turtles have been washed ashore along the 100-km stretch of East Coast from Besant Nagar in the city to Madhuranthagam in Kancheepuram district.
“The past three to four years have witnessed too many deaths of the sea turtles,” says Arun of Students Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN).
The student volunteer network that has been patrolling the city’s beaches from the late 1980s found 65 dead turtles since the New Year’s day.
Tree Foundation volunteers are involved in conservation of the critically endangered turtles from Neelankarai to Marakkanam. “Almost 123 dead turtles were washed ashore between December 20 and January 13,” says Supraja Dharini of the foundation.
On Saturday alone, more than 60 turtles were ashore dead from Neelankarai to Alambarai. Conservationists say that the main reason for such high sea turtle mortality is due to commercial trawl fishing nets, primarily mechanised boats using gill nets to catch tuna.
The turtles need to come to the surface of the sea every 40-45 minutes to breathe. Trapped in the fishing net, they can’t come up. Once the net is raised, they are released but often it is too late as they are already dead, she says.
“Many of the dead turtles are washed deep into the sea as well,” says Mr. Arun. Local fishermen have also been reporting that they have observed many dead turtles floating in the sea this season.
The conservationists have been waging a relentless war with the State government for years now for a law to ban the killer nets like in many western countries. A week ago, the Fisheries Department held a meeting with the fishermen.
The fishermen were told to fish beyond five km from the shore and boat owners were asked to instruct the workers not to fish in regions off shore to estuaries. They were also asked to pull up their nets every one hour.
As a major step towards conservation of the city’s flagship species, the Fisheries Department in association with the Tree Foundation will be organising a demonstration of the Turtle Excluder Device (TED) next week for all the trawl boat owners.
Scientists from Central Institute of Fisheries Technology will display indigenously designed TED to the boat owners. “TEDs are low-cost devices and the loss will only be marginal,” says Mr. Arun.
