Olive Ridley 'turtle dance' on pause due to poor nesting, hatcheries turn idle

NG of Olive Ridley turtles continues to be sluggish as the area's shores, riddled with thermocol, plastic and other waste, fail to provide a conducive environment for the turtles.

- S V Krishna Chaitanya @Chennai

NG of Olive Ridley turtles continues to be sluggish as the area's shores, riddled with thermocol, plastic and other waste, fail to provide a conducive environment for the turtles. Volunteers, who go on night walks to witness the turtle-mother turtles dig nests in the shape of a pot with a harmonised movement of flippers in the sand-reported and empty.

Moreover, the Besant and Neelankarai hatcheries, which would ideally be brimming with over 70 nests by this time of the year, have only 20 nests so far.

S V Krishna Chaitanya, a wildlife photographer and Aakash Prabhakaran, an IT professional, accompanied the Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN) volunteers for one such night walk from Neelankarai to the broken bridge near Adyar estuary on Saturday midnight.