No safety for turtles at nesting beach in Kakinada

Kakinada: A range of factors are je-opardizing the security of a sea turtles' nesting beach near Kakinada.

Chief among them is the artificial illumination cast by development activities and heavy predation. The bright lights are disorienting for the adult creatures while leading to heavy hatchling mortality.

Studies have indicated that a large percentage of eggs laid during each nesting season are also destroyed by wild pigs, jackals and feral dogs and by beach erosion too.

Conservation biologists also blame mechanised fishing taking place within 5 km of the shoreline with the sea turtles getting accidentally captured in trawl nets.

Development activities close to the coast, such as construction of roads, industries and aquaculture projects, result in the loss of nesting habitats while casuarina plantations on Sacramento Island, a major nesting beach, have reduced the space available for sea turtles to nest: once the casuarina grows it changes the topography of the beach, with its litter deposits and root growth, rendering the beach unsuitable for the turtles that are nesting.

“Sea turtles spend almost six months (December-May) each year along the Indian coastline and face a multitude of problems that we need to address,” said P. Sathiya Selvam, senior conservation biologist of the East Godavari Riverine, Estuarine and Ecosystem (EGREE) Foundation, a UNDP-GoI, GoEF and GoAP project. The Andhra Pradesh Forest Department initiated conservation measures at three locations -- Sacramento Island, Hope Island and Yallaiahpet-- since the last three years, he added.  

There are about 1.33 lakh turtle hatchlings that have been safely released after hatching (88 per cent) from 1.50 lakh eggs, protected through in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures.

According to sources, an action plan has been drawn by the EGREE Foundation, which has suggested enhancing effective off-shore patrols and protection of sea turtles through the Wildlife Wing, State Maritime Fisheries departments and Indian Coast Guard by providing them with adequate infrastructure and establishing guidelines for developing facilities to safeguard and minimize the large scale mortality of sea breeding turtles both on and offshore.