Visakhapatnam: Five Olive Ridley turtles washed ashore dead on RK Beach on Saturday. Olive Ridley turtles migrate in huge numbers from the beginning of November. But, it picks up after mid-January every year, for mating and nesting along the coast of Visakhapatnam. Vizag Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Alan Chong Teron confirmed the deaths of the turtles and said that the turtles start coming ashore this time of the year and get caught in the fishing net or die due to pollution.
About 400 Olive Ridley turtles come to Vizag for nesting and the number increases every year. However, animal activists alleged that due to mechanised trawlers and non-implementation of mandatory guidelines adult turtles are dying. The reappearance of tagged turtles in Gahirmatha provides evidence to the fact that female turtles return to the same beach annually for laying eggs. A turtle excluder device (TED) is a specialised device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman's net. Environmentalists are of the view that the fishery department should take strict action against fishermen if they did not fit this device to their nets.
