Life & Style | People
Nesting in peace
The endangered Olive Ridley turtles that nest on the beaches in Chennai were frequently falling prey to poachers and dogs. But thanks to Dr Supraja Dharini and her small band of dedicated turtle protectors, they can now hatch in peace.
- By Mythili Ramachandran, Freelance Writer
- Published: 23:27 November 27, 2008
- Image Credit: Image: Roshni R
- It gives me great pleasure whenever a fisherman tells me that he thought of me and my work when a turtle got ensnared in his net, says Dharini.
The endangered Olive Ridley turtles that nest on the beaches in Chennai were frequently falling prey to poachers and dogs. But thanks to Dr Supraja Dharini and her small band of dedicated turtle protectors, they can now hatch in peace.
Come December and the beaches in certain areas of Chennai become a vast nesting ground for Olive Ridley turtles. Hundreds of female Olive Ridley turtles swim ashore to lay eggs in the wet sand before returning to the sea. This natural phenomenon is amazing to say the least.
The female first digs a pit in the sand using her flippers. Then she makes herself comfortable and lays 60 to 160 eggs at a time. She then covers the pit with sand and waddles back to the ocean leaving the eggs to hatch on their own.
Around 45 days later, the hatchlings begin sticking their heads out of their shells. This usuallly happens in the night. Slowly one flipper pushes its way through the sand, then another before the baby turtle finally emerges and promptly begins to make its way to the sea. Guiding them on this homeward journey is the moonlight.
It was a phenomenon that has been repeated countless times over the centuries. But now things have begun to change. Thanks to large-scale development along the coastline, the lives of these baby turtles are in danger.
No, it's not that construction on the beaches is eating into the turtle's egg-laying grounds. What is killing these hatchlings is, apart from poachers, artificial lights from houses facing the beach. The hatchlings mistake these lights for the moonlight and instead of heading for the sea they crawl towards the light and on to roads where at daybreak they fall prey to dogs and crows. Some are trampled by morning joggers while poachers make a meal of those that are alive.
However for the past five years, Dr Supraja Dharini, founder and chairperson of TREE Foundation (a Trust for Environment Education, Conservation and Community Development), has been working hard to ensure that all the hatchlings make their way back to the sea.
So during the turtle nesting season, when the rest of the city sleeps, Dr Dharini and her small team of turtle guards help the little turtles make their way to the sea.
But what got her interested in saving turtles?
A commerce graduate with a doctorate in philosophy (aesthetics), Dharini admits she knew nothing about turtles till a few years ago.
Then one day in December 2001, while she was walking on the beaches of Chennai, she came across the carcass of a turtle. Keen to know how it could have ended up on the beach, she asked a few people who told her all about the Olive Ridleys and how people living along the coastline as well as modern developments were causing havoc to the turtle population.
"I remembered the words of renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall that 'every individual can make a difference','' says Dharini. She wanted to, and decided to take the first step – educate the fisherfolk community living along the coast. She also read up all she could about turtles.
Taking a cue from Mahatma Gandhi's saying, "If we are to reach real peace in this world, we shall have to begin with the children," she also befriended the children of these hamlets.
They accompanied her to the zoo and the crocodile park. She showed them slide shows on environmental issues, the focus being the sea-turtle and conducted sand modelling competitions in their schools. While they learnt about the importance of the turtle, Dharini found a place in their hearts.
"I explained to them how turtles feed on weeds and algae clearing the area and allowing fish to spawn freely. An increase in the fish population means a better catch for the fishermen. Saving turtles is like saving the wealth of the ocean," she says.
For the adults, she arranged talks by a forest ranger on the importance of conserving turtles and the penalties for killing turtles or poaching their eggs.
Keen to make it a mission in life, she set up the TREE Foundation in 2002. Using her own funds, she went about raising awareness on conservation of the environment
and sea turtle as well as community development programmes in five fishing hamlets along the south Chennai coastline, covering about 13 km.
During the nesting season in 2003, several youths from these villages joined her in the night patrol.
"We worked on in situ conservation. Following the tracks left by female turtles, we traced the nests and protected them from dogs and poachers. The emerging hatchlings were then released into the sea," says this animal lover who has often provided shelter to abandoned animals including once an ox.
"While the young men were enthusiastic, their parents were not happy. They demanded money for the work they were doing. I told them I had no money to pay them and that I was doing it out of love for the ocean. And since they depended on the ocean for their livelihood it was their responsibility too," says the 43-year-old activist.
In the second year, the number of volunteers dwindled. Only those who truly believed in her work continued to be with her. But not one to give up easily, she formed a team known as Kadal Aamai Padhukavalargall (KAP) or the Sea Turtle Protection Force. Karthik Shankar, a turtle biologist
and a friend, guided Dharini on her mission.
The force also found that poachers and dogs used to frequently dig up the nests of the turtles, stealing the eggs and destroying the area. To avoid these incidents, ex-situ conservation was initiated. Artificial hatcheries were set up and eggs relocated to these safe spots.
All her efforts have begun to bear fruit.
"It gives me great pleasure whenever a fisherman tells me that he remembered me and my work whenever a turtle got ensnared in his net. Instead of killing the turtle, the fishermen now cut their nets and release the turtle," says Dharini, who also runs her own gallery Kalakruti which deals in stained glass painting and mural work.
While the group managed to release a little more than 2,000 hatchlings in 2003, the number swelled to 11,340 last year. In 2006 there was no poaching of eggs nor were eggs lost to predators. Since then, the sea turtle conservation programme has become a joint initiative of the TREE Foundation
and the wildlife wing of the Forest Department of Tamil Nadu.
Ezhumalai, one of the turtle guards, says, "There was a time when we used to play cricket with the eggs. Today we care for them and it pains us when we are not able to save a hatchling."
Last July, Dharini was one among eight people selected from all over the world for a Global Fellowship in Marine Conservation 2008 at the Duke University Marine Laboratories, USA. The fellowship included a fully sponsored summer course in Conservation Biology and policies and Sea Turtle Biology.
Says Dharini, "This course has been helpful since we are in the process of getting permission from the chief wildlife warden to conduct necropsy (post mortem) on dead dolphins and sea turtles that wash up along the Chennai coast.
"We will be able to then ascertain the cause of their death as well as do a genetic study on them. We will learn about the toxic levels in the blubber and the stomach contents to understand its feeding behaviour," explains this environmentalist.
The TREE Foundation is funded by Dharini with support from friends and wellwishers. The forest department pays a monthly stipend to six turtle guards, Dharini pays the remaining six.
In the stillness of the night, as I watch the hatchlings emerge from the sand and gently brush the sand off their eyes with their flippers, it is an overwhelming experience. I watch them as they scurry into the sea.
It is believed that they will return as adults to the same shore during the nesting season. This is known as 'Natal homing'. With their guardian angel watching over them, the turtles have little to fear.
Visit www.treefoundationindia.org.
- Mythili Ramachandran is a Chennai-based writer.
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