Turtle Talk
With increased awareness resulting in active public participation, conserving marine life and the oceans has also become a priority. Sadly the marine wonders are considered useless by most trawl fishermen.
Turtles, molluscs, sea cucumbers, star fish and a lot more that get caught and cannot be sold in the market are left to rot and die. Worse when turtles get entangled in gill nets, the fishermen don't release them; instead they chop off the flippers or head that gets caught in the net. However things are now looking up. With organisations like the TREE Foundation, the incidence of turtles succumbing to injuries has reduced drastically.
Rescue acts
More than four turtles have been rescued in the past one year. Ironically people who rescued and brought these sea turtles to the rehabilitation centre were fishermen who work as TREE Foundation's Sea Turtle Protection Force (STPF).
G. Sundaram, a fisherman and member of the STPF from Sadras fishing village, speaks of the adult Olive Ridley he helped rescue. ?We went fishing as usual during midnight and felt something hit the underside of our boat as we neared the shore. We realised it was a huge sea turtle, injured but alive. We immediately lifted it up, brought it to the beach and contacted Dr. Supraja. The turtle had only her right flipper; the rest had been chopped off.?
Another juvenile Olive Ridley was found in Neelankarai by local fishermen. ?We went in about 20 km fishing with hook and line, we suddenly saw something popping its head in and out. On closer examination, we found it was an Olive Ridley caught in a trawl net. We lifted the turtle with the net on to our boat and carefully cut away the net. Sadly it had cut off a part of the right flipper and deep in to the shoulder.?
Pugalarasu, STPF member, was overwhelmed to see the change in Kalimuthu the fisherman who brought in the turtle in his own boat. Since most fishermen believe in the superstition that placing a turtle in the boat or a turtle getting entangled in their net would bring bad luck for them.
R. Sarveshwaran from Uyalikuppam was amazed by the beauty of the juvenile hawksbill he rescued. ?I thought it was a fish initially and then I saw its snout. I remembered that it was a Hawksbill turtle from Ezhumalai's orientation programme during our annual STPF meetings.?
Tending to these injured turtles calls for more volunteer help! If you are ready to help prepare food, clean tanks and assist TREE Foundation's team members while caring for the injured turtles, call: 9444052242 or e-mail: treefoundation2002@gmail.com.
The TREE Foundation Rehabilitation Facility is at Blue Beach Road, Neelankarai. Tend to the turtles, participate in TREE Roots & Shoots activities and walk with our fishermen who are the Sea Turtle Protection Force listen to their experience of whales and dolphins and marine life while patrolling the beach for nesting turtles and nests and get involved in our community based sea turtle conservation program supported By The Wildlife Wing Of The Forest Department, Department Of Fisheries and The Indian Coast Guard.
Sindhu is a I Year student of M.Sc. Environmental Science at Anna University.
