Homage to dead sea turtles held in Neelankarai beach

CHENNAI: Even as the Chennai coast is witnessing the death of hundreds of Olive Ridley turtles during the current nesting season, conservationists and environmental activists held a memorial for the dead creatures in Chennai, on Saturday.

Organised by TREE Foundation, members of the Sea Turtle Protection Force (STPF), environmentalists, and volunteers, and government officials took part in the memorial event in Neelankarai Beach.

According to a release, nearly 5,000 endangered sea turtles were lost this season just in January 2025, the beginning of the breeding season and the event was to mark the highest number of turtle fatalities since the devastating mass stranding of 2014.

“The tradition of remembering the tragically lost turtles began after the loss of 824 turtles to trawl boats on February 22, 2014, at Penna Estuary, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, where TREE Foundation has led a community-based conservation programme in collaboration with the Forest Department. The memorial also commemorated the 1,000 turtles that perished along the Vellar Estuary in Cuddalore in March of the same year. Reports confirmed these deaths resulted from drowning in the nets of 40 mechanised trawl boats violating the Marine Fisheries Regulation Act, which mandates a minimum fishing distance of 9.26 km in TN and 8 km in Andhra Pradesh, the area specifically allotted for traditional artisanal fishermen,” the release added.

P Muragavel, assistant director and superintendent, Fisheries, and S Malathi of Coastal Security Group, emphasised on the crucial role of public awareness and urged citizens to avoid the use of light when observing nesting turtles on the beach.”

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