Mortality of olive ridley turtles Lepidochelys olivacea due to incidental capture in fishing nets along the Orissa coast, India (original) (raw)
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Conservation and Management of olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Orissa, India
This report is an out come of the Wildlife Institute of India's research project entitled "An ecological analysis of critical sea turtle habitats in Orissa for the development of a scientific sea turtle management strategy". Field work for the research project was carried out between 1995 and 1999. During this project nearly 13,000 olive ridley sea turtles were tagged in different parts of Orissa coast and their movements were monitored. Death of more than 46,000 adult olive ridleys were documented during this study.
Ecological Questions
We report on deaths of Olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) at the Pudupettai beach on the Tamilnadu coast of India. The study was conducted during the period of January 2021 to March 2021. A total of 29 dead Olive Ridley turtle was counted and almost all the deaths caused due to unnatural incidents. Direct evidences of fatal injuries were observed on the body parts. As well as, evidences of pollutants were found on the beach.
All seven species of marine turtles of which four species that occur in the Indian waters have undergone severe population declines. The Maharashtra state, having a 720 km long coastline is among the top few coastal states in India that supports high coastal and marine biodiversity. Many of these sites along this coast have been prioritized for conservation action. We carried out a survey to assess the sea turtle nesting beaches and collect information on the near shore turtle habitats along the 120 km long Sindhudurg coastline along Southern Maharashtra. Three sites along this coast: Devgad, Vengurla, Malvan have been prioritized for immediate conservation action. Out of 27 identified nesting beaches only 13 beaches exhibited sporadic nesting of Vulnerable Olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Endangered Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the Critically Endangered Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) are regularly seen in the near shore waters, this has been reported through questionnaire survey of the local fishermen. Our study indicates that turtles probably congregate in select areas off the Sindhudurg coast during a certain time of the year for feeding or resting during which they are likely vulnerable to near shore trawling or to gill net fishing. Keywords: Marine turtle, Sporadic nesting, Olive ridley, Vulnerable, Critically endangered
Status of sea turtle conservation in India and the way forward
Marine Fisheries Information Service Technical & Extension Series No. 238, 2018
Sea turtles play an important role in maintaining the balance of the food web in the marine ecosystem. It is reported that the unintentional capture of turtles in shrimp trawls is the most important factor leading to the mortality of sea turtles. Globally, several conservation measures are in place for conserving populations of the iconic sea turtles. This includes India where several identified turtle nesting sites are protected through appropriate restrictions on fishing and other anthropogenic activities. The history of conservation of sea turtles in India and recent linking use of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) in shrimp trawls to shrimp imports by the USA, is discussed.
Despite international and national protection, sea turtles continue to be caught incidentally in large numbers along the coastal waters of Odisha. This chapter examines the mortality of sea turtles in three arribada site of Odisha, focusing on offshore distribution and number of carcasses of olive ridley found along the three zones. A total of 14,035 and 3,481 turtles were washed ashore dead along the three important arribada sites of Odisha in two consecutive study period 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 due to trawling activity. We compared the number of turtles stranded on beaches adjacent to the fishing grounds with the near shore fishing activity within 6 km from the coast and at a depth of 30 m. The objective was to correlate the beach stranding with degree of fishing activities and to evaluate beach stranding as an indicator of fishery-induced mortality. The mortality and trawling activity was further classified into pre-mating, mating, and postmating seasons for comparison. There was a positive significant correlation with the seasons in trawling and mortality of turtles. The findings conclude that turtle stranding during the mating period is highest in the turtle abundance zones in comparison to adjoining areas. In places where near shore trawling was more mortality of turtles and where the fishing activities were moderate or low the turtle mortalities was found to be less. The high trawling near shore coincide with the mating period of turtles due to which large number of mortality occurs.