TN conservationists ensure safe passage of Olive Ridley hatchlings post nesting

Although nesting season along TN coast got over earlier this month, there have been quite a few cases of stray nests. “In Alamparai, 112 eggs were found,” Supraja Dharini of TREE Foundation, said. Meanwhile, Arun V of the Students’ Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN) said that it is normal to witness such sporadic nesting, adding this was both a low nesting and low mortality year for the turtles.

According to Chennai Wildlife Warden CH Padma, hatcheries in Pulicat, Besant Nagar and Kovalam recorded only 315 nests with 35,000 eggs this year, as compared to 50,000 last year. Data provided by TREE Foundation showed 240 nests were discovered in Kancheepuram till late April, with Supraja saying how it was over 420 last year. Dr Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, pegged the total number of eggs collected this season between 80,000 and 1,00,000.

Wildlife protection was declared an essential service and ID card details of all STPF members were submitted to the police to avoid them being harassed during conservation in lockdown. Although Arun said his team collected 48 volunteer IDs from the Forest Department, he added they relied on help from fishing hamlets and volunteers staying closer to coast. Care was also taken to ensure social distancing norms were followed.

Muralidharan M of Dakshin Foundation who researches Olive Ridleys, however, dismissed the lockdown as having had impact on the turtles as he said they would have nested even with human movement in place. “Even though the nesting was low, one blessing during the lockdown was that the beaches were not disturbed by public activity,” Padma added.