Chennai

Wildlife authorities and marine conservationists have begun the annual awareness programmes to welcome the nesting Olive Ridley turtles along the Tamil Nadu coast. Videos of entangled turtles released back into the sea by trained fishermen are also released as part of the awareness campaign and there will be more awareness walks among the kids to promote the nesting mama turtles, informed foresters said.

“The concept of turtle conservation dates back to 1990’s and the turtle walks were common in Besant Nagar. Now the Forest Department erects nesting sheds continuing the conservation programmes.

The turtle awareness had now reached several parts of the state,” recalled septuagenarian R Ranganathan based in Besant Nagar.

“The turtles have started arriving as per the season and this year we are expecting more nesting along the south Indian coast,” said Supraja Dharini, marine conservationist and founder of Tree Foundation. The community based marine ecosystem conservation programme started in 2002 and Tree Foundation has so far trained more than 363 Sea Turtle Protection Force members from 222 fishing communities of Chennai, Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and southern Odisha.

Specialised awareness programmes for releasing endangered marine species entangled in ghost nets and fishing gear are being conducted regularly to these identified fishing communities, Dharini said.

Meanwhile, four fishermen- M Prabhakar, M Elumalai, M Loganathan and E Kanthan from Paramankeni fishing village south of Kalpakkam while fishing 8 Nautical miles from the shore, found an entangled female Olive Ridley Turtle in their net set for flying fish (kolameen). The fishermen subsequently pulled the net close to the boat and safely released the female turtle to continue her life cycle. Similarly, in another case, the fishermen have also video recorded the release of turtles and are now circulated among the TN fishermen and school students to promote turtle conservation.

IT major HCL had also roped in NGOs and volunteers to spread the awareness related to marine turtles.

It may be noted that Odisha government in collaboration with the MSSRF had also come up with a customised mobile application (FFMA) that would alert fishermen about the no-fishing zones to conserve endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles.

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