Context:
Recently, a concerning number of dead Olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) have been found washed ashore along the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu, particularly in Chennai.
- Dead olive ridley turtles have been reported along the coast from Neelankarai, Besant Nagar, and Kovalam to various areas in the Kancheepuram district, often getting trapped in fishing nets during their nesting season.
About Olive Ridley turtles
- The species is among the smallest of the world’s sea turtles, known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada,
- Growing to about 2 feet in length, and 50 kg in weight,
- The olive ridley gets its name from the olive-green color of its heart-shaped shell.
- Olive ridley turtles are found worldwide and listed under the Endangered Species Act.
- It is like all sea turtles, are marine reptiles and must come to the surface to breathe.
- It migrates great distances between feeding and breeding grounds.
- It feeds on a wide variety of food items, including algae, lobster, crabs, tunicates, and mollusks.
- It can dive to depths of 500 feet to forage on the ocean floor.
- It nests for three months – January, February, and March and usually nests twice a year, occasionally, even three times.
Threats
- The threats to sea turtles include:
- Loss or modification of the nesting beaches due to Casuarina plantation.
- Fishing by gill nets; and development of fishing bases at the potential nesting sites and breeding areas.
- Strong illumination around nesting beaches which greatly disorients the adult turtles as well as the hatchlings.
- Large-scale vessel movement in congregation zones severely disturbs mating and breeding.
- Nests and eggs are destroyed by predators like dogs, jackals, hyenas, etc., and by beach erosion.
Programs and Activities by Government
- Declaration of Gahirmatha Marine Wildlife Sanctuary in September, 1997 to protect major turtle species.
- Formation of State Level Steering Committee for sea turtles under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Odisha in 1997
- Declaration of three major turtle congregation sites (nesting and breeding grounds) at Gahirmatha (Dhamara river mouth), Devi and Rushikulya River mouths as ‘No Fishing Zones’ during the reproductive and nesting period
- Use of ‘Turtle Excluder Device’ (TED) has to be mandatory in all trawl fishing nets.
- Regular patrolling of the nesting beaches and congregation-breeding zones in the sea by setting camps along the sea coast, and by patrolling in the sea by trawler.
Protection Status:
- Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
- Appendix I of CITES
- Vulnerable by the IUCN Red list.
- Listed in the CMS (Convention on Migratory species)