In about a month, more than 1,000 Olive Ridley turtles have washed ashore dead along the Chennai coastline in Tamil Nadu, in the South of India, possibly because of the effects of indiscriminate fishing.
The Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is listed as a Schedule 1 species under the Wildlife Protection Act. They play an important role in maintaining the marine ecosystem’s balance, but each January they migrate — sometimes as far as 7,000 kilometres — to nest in Tamil Nadu’s coastline.
The state government and NGOs have developed conservation initiatives such as the collection of eggs, their incubation, and the release of the hatchlings into the sea, but despite these efforts, only one or two turtles out of a thousand eggs typically survive to adulthood.
Activists have expressed concern over the scale of the recent deaths, considering that the washed-up carcasses may represent just 10% of the total fatalities, and nearly 5,000 Olive Ridley turtles could have died in the sea.
Post-mortem analyses of the carcasses show many have drowned. Antony Rubin, an animal rights activist, said to India Today, “The bulged necks and popped eyes are a clear indication that the Olive Ridleys, which can hold their breath for up to 45 minutes, have died due to drowning.”
Unmonitored fishing practices may be one of the causes, as trawlers, which are supposed to fish beyond 8 km from the shore, have reportedly been operating as close as 2 to 3 km from the coastline, where the turtles are often found. The use of trawl nets and gill nets, which scour the seabed for extended hours taking in everything in their way, has caused many turtle deaths because they become entangled and drown as they are unable to surface for air.
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