Conserving Turtles in Tamil Nadu's Fishing Village With Collaborative Efforts
TerraGreen|September 2020
In this article, Sharada Balasubramanian highlights that in the small coastal fishing village of Vanagiri, in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, a fisherman, Kutti Andi has been conserving turtles from 2009. Turtles, which come here, all the way from Odisha for breeding, face many hurdles due to changed fishing practices. Modern fishing nets, speeding boats, challenge their very survival today. With the collaborative efforts of forest department, non-governmental organizations, local fishermen, panchayat, and college students, there is increased awareness and action to conserve these turtles in this village.
Sharada Balasubramanian
Conserving Turtles in Tamil Nadu's Fishing Village With Collaborative Efforts

It is a quiet afternoon in the fishing village Vanagiri. The village is almost four kilometres from the ancient town of Poompuhar in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. In this quaint little village, turtles come all the way from Odisha for breeding, crossing Andhra Pradesh. Swimming in high tides, the journey is long and arduous for these turtles. Enroute, these turtles face many battles for their survival. Change in fishing habits, including modern boats, fishing nets, have been major obstacles for these turtles. Changing climate also adds to this problem.

At the beach in Vanagiri, fishermen steered away their boats to anchor. There was a change in this practice too. Earlier, boat anchoring was a muscle pulling activity, where a group of men got together, mooring away the boats. Today, heavy vehicles do this, instead.

It was January, the usual breeding season, but fishermen had not seen any turtles or their eggs. They said that their numbers have been declining every year, and also their time of arrival has been changing. They would probably be on their way here.

As one moves further away from the shore, there is a makeshift hut made from dried coconut leaves on one corner. Here, turtle eggs were stored during the breeding season. A board from the forest department lies at the entrance of this shelter—and it comes with a message that attempting to harm the turtle eggs or the hatchlings is a serious offence.

Threats to Turtles

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