Hundreds of endangered turtles die on Indian coast
Date: 24-Dec-01
Country: INDIA
Every winter, thousands of Olive Ridleys come ashore to dig pits in the sand and lay eggs at three major nesting sites along the coast of Orissa state, one of the world's major nesting grounds, before returning to the sea.
But large numbers of the turtles are either suffocated after becoming trapped in fishing nets or are slashed to death by the propeller blades of fishing trawlers.
According to the Wildlife Society of Orissa, more than 1,300 turtles have been killed in the past few days and officials say many more could die over the next few months.
"The death figure can only go up since unregulated fishing is rampant and more turtles are expected to arrive in the coming months," said a senior state wildlife department official.
Though protected under India's Wildlife Protection Act, more than 50,000 turtles were killed off the Orissa coast during the last December-March nesting season.
"Thousands of sea turtles would expectedly get killed as in previous years," said Biswajit Mohanty of the Wildlife Society of Orissa.
Conservationists say widespread trawler fishing along the Orissa coast could push the already endangered Olive Ridley turtles to extinction.
"It could be catastrophic for Olive Ridleys since they are already endangered," said Bibhash Pandav, a turtle researcher with the Wildlife Institute of India.
Pollution and poachers, who hunt the turtles for their meat and take their eggs, also take a toll on the Olive Ridley turtles which can grow up to 75 cm (2.5 feet) in length, conservationists say.
Despite the heavy toll, the Olive Ridleys keep coming back to the Orissa coast.
More than a million turtles came ashore last year to lay millions of eggs, conservationists say.
