A mass casualty event involving sea turtles along India's Chennai coastline has experts alarmed.
What's happening?
As detailed by Mongabay, multiple reports indicate that more than 1,000 olive ridley turtles have turned up dead on Chennai shores over just a few weeks. A 1.9-mile stretch between Neelankarai and Marina Beach was particularly troubling, with the Students Sea Turtle Conservation Network documenting 346 deaths — Chennai's highest total in one month.
SSTCN trustee and coordinator V. Arun told Mongabay it's clear why the turtles have died, as it is not unusual for them to get ensnared in fishing nets and be unable to surface for air. According to NOAA Fisheries, this unintended capture is a "primary threat" to their survival. However, Arun worried about what the unusually large number of deaths could mean.
"It's not a puzzle why they die, as it is a clear case of drowning. The puzzle is why we have such high death numbers this year," Arun said.
Why is this important?
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists olive ridley turtles as a vulnerable species experiencing a 30-50% population decline worldwide. Unfortunately, olive ridley sea turtles aren't the only creatures on the planet in trouble. For instance, in Alaska, thousands of seabirds died of starvation after marine heat waves decimated fish populations.
Ultimately, the continued degradation of Earth's ecosystems would negatively impact human life, as reduced biodiversity would harm our food systems and medicinal supply, among other things.
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What's being done to protect olive ridley turtles?
K. Bharathi, president of the South Indian Fishermen's Welfare Association, recommended to Mongabay that the government should "enforce stricter regulations" and educate fishers about the dangers of trawling — the process of catching fish by dragging a net across the ocean floor.
In that regard, the Chennai and Chengalpattu districts have ongoing state-level awareness programs, according to Manish Meena, Chennai's Wildlife Warden. Meena also told Mongabay that night patrols have increased to safeguard hatchlings.
Moreover, the Coastal Security Group, Wildlife Wing, Indian Coast Guard, Fisheries Department, and Enforcement Wing have teamed up to monitor the vulnerable turtles, and they will submit weekly reports on India's efforts to protect the creatures.
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Definitely 👍 According to the report, fisher associations also support an investigation into the deaths, suggesting that another factor may be at play — they are required to outfit their trawlers with turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, which help the creatures escape. For example, Chennai's shores are littered with plastic, as Bharathi told Mongabay, so that could play a role.
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To that end, forgoing single-use plastic water bottles and grocery bags in favor of reusable options is one way individuals can help the turtles, promote healthier oceans overall, and support cleaner recreation areas.
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