The Hindu : Front Page : Turtle migrants find haven off Tamil Nadu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 26, 2006
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Turtle migrants find haven off Tamil Nadu

Aarti Dhar

Marine reptiles from Sri Lanka are now tracked using satellites to the Indian coast

NEW DELHI: Endangered turtles from Sri Lanka have been found heading for India. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has satellite-tracked the migration of nesting green turtles from a sanctuary on the coast of Sri Lanka to a protected area off Tamil Nadu.

The MCS and its local partners, the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) and the Tamil Nadu Department of Wildlife Conservation, fixed tags to six female turtles after they nested at the Rekawa Turtle Sanctuary in Sri Lanka, the country's first wildlife sanctuary for marine turtles.

The first turtle to be tagged, Helen, began its trip soon after its release and swam about 500 km to the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve. Since then, it has been joined by two more tagged turtles. Another turtle, Sayuri-Emerald, took a different route. It has crossed the seas between Sri Lanka and India and is heading north along the west coast.

MCS is a U.K. charity dedicated to the protection of seas, shores and wildlife. Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as endangered. They are herbivorous as adults and can grow to up to 1.5 m, weighing up to 230 kg. They mature between 20 and 50 years.

TCP, a Sri Lankan non-governmental organisation established in 1994 by Thushan Kapurusinghe, runs community based conservation projects along the Sri Lankan coastline.

Satellite tags can track the long-distance migration of species. In this case they are fixed to the shell with epoxy resin. They are powered by batteries that last on average 10 months. They transmit a signal to satellites everytime the turtle surfaces. The data help locate the position. Rekawa is on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Five species of marine turtles nest here; the green turtle is the most commonly encountered one. The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve was South and South East Asia's first marine protected area.

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