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Marine Turtle Newsletter 25:4-6, © 1983
Chandra Sekhar Kar
Gahirmatha Marine Turtle Research and Conservation Centre, Forest Dept.
Government of Orissa. Post: Satabhaya 754 225. Via: Rajnagar, Dist: Cuttack (Orissa), India
Shantharam (1975) stated that Indian marine turtles are "very seriously threatened with extinction" and exhorted the Government to develop conservation programmes. Following recommendations made by the Govt. of India/FAO/UNDP Project, crocodile Breeding and Management (FAO 1974, 1975), research and conservation programmes were initiated by the Forest Department, Orissa, for olive ridleys at Gahirmatha. So far Orissa is the only state where monitoring of turtles is being made on a round the year basis. Lazell (1980) mentioned that "there is a burgeoning and extremely timely increase in research activity with respect to marine turtles in India and adjacent Islands" and he discussed the possibility of developing a comprehensive programme for the coast of east India. While discussing the situation of turtles on the Andhra Pradesh coast with the state wildlife conservator, Mr. Pushp Kumar in April/May, 1982, he informed me that a state coastline survey is proposed for the winter of 1983 to confirm fragmentary reports of nesting.
The state of Andhra Pradesh is an area of 277,000 km2 and the coastline is ca. 970 km. The bottom is mostly sandy except for a few muddy and rocky places. The average width of the continental shelf (200 m depth) on the eastern sea board of India is 43 km off the Tamil Nadu, 32 km off the Andhra Pradesh and 68 km off the Orissa-West Bengal (Silas et al. 1980).
At present only scattered information is available in Andhra Pradesh on the occurrence of the 5 species of sea turtles present in Indian waters. The common species, particularly in the northern half of the state, is the ridley (Kar and Bhaskar, 1982). While fishermen on catamarans catch ridleys incidentally from about October to February, the proliferation of mechanized trawlers probably was responsible for the larger incidental catch of ridleys in 1978-79 than in past years (Kar and Bhaskar, 1982). Although not much is known about leatherback turtles in Andhra Pradesh a female was killed during May 1979, near the Visakhapatnam coast while attempting nesting (Dutt, 1979). The state owned Indira Gandhi Zoological Park at Visakhapatnam, Waltair, have been rearing stray specimens of green and hawksbill turtles collected from fishermen, and have also hatched eggs of the ridleys in captivity. During November 1979 when I was at Vishakhapatnam, Prof. S. Dutt of Andhra University informed me that a female hawksbill obtained from the fishermen was reared in a laboratory for a few days and then released. Personnel of the fisheries department and fishermen have also informed me of nestings by ridleys on the Orissa Andhra Pradesh border. Mr. B.C. Choudhury (Andhra Pradesh wildlife wing) has information on turtles nesting in the Godavari river mouth and the Godavari and Krishna delta of Andhra Pradesh coast and have also confirmed that nesting occurs on the Orissa Andhra Pradesh border. So far no systematic survey work has been undertaken on the Andhra Pradesh coast and there may be important arribada beaches particularly in the Godavari and Krishna delta, which holds the major mangrove areas in the state. This area was declared a sanctuary (Coringa wildlife sanctuary) in July, 1978, with the aim of rehabilitating the saltwater crocodile, Crocodylus porosus, believed to be extinct in Andhra Pradesh. Sightings of the Olive ridley sea turtles, Lepidochelys olivacea, during April/May, 1971, in shallow coastal waters near Durgarajupatnam beaches (Lat. 13°4' N - 14° 0'N and Long. 80° 07'E - 80° 10'E) and Yelatturdibba beaches near False Divi Point (Lat. 15° 80'N - 15° 85'N and Long. 80° 80'E -80° 90'E) have recently been reported to me by Lt. Col. P.V. Francis of the Indian Navy.
In Andhra Pradesh (Telgu speaking state) there are also different names in the ontogeny of sea turtles. For example, eggs are commonly known as "gudlu" and the adult turtles are known as "Samudram Thabelu" (Samudram = Turtle: general name for all species of sea turtles).
Ridley nesting season in Andhra Pradesh coincides with the main season for the species in the neighbouring state of Orissa, i.e. from October to May. Year-round nesting of the ridleys in Gahirmatha have been reported by Kar (1980, 1982); and Kar and Bhaskar (1982). Nesting has also been reported during June in the Gulf of Kutch (Bhaskar, 1978); and from January to March in Orissa (Anon, 1979); and at Visakhapatnam (Butt, 1979). The author is thankful to the Forest Department Govt. of Orissa for sanctioning a tour in the Andhra Pradesh coast to investigate turtles.
Anon. 1979. News from the Madras Snake Park and Crocodile Bank. Hamadryad 4:1.
Bhaskar, S. 1978. Notes from the Gulf of Kutch. Hamadryad 3:9-10.
Dutt, S. 1976. The leatherback turtle. Sea Food Exp. J. 8:36.
Dutt, S. 1979. Sea turtle notes from Visakhapatnam. Hamadrayd 4:2-3.
FAO. 1974. India. A preliminary survey of the prospects of Crocodile Farming (based on the work of H.R. Bustard) FAO. Rome (FO:IND/71/033) Oct. 1974.
FAO. 1975. India-economic potential of Gharial and saltwater crocodile schemes in Orissa with notes on the sea turtle industry. (Based on the work of J.M. de Waard) FAO. Rome (FO:IND/71/033).
Kar, C.S. 1980. The Gahirmatha turtle rookery along the coast of Orissa, India. Marine Turtle Newsletter, 15:2-3.
Kar, C.S. 1982. The Gahirmatha sea turtle rookery, Orissa. Makara. III, 1:20-23.
Kar, C.S. 1982. Discovery of second mass nesting ground of the Pacific olive ridley sea turtles, Lepidochelys olivacea, in Orissa, India. Tiger Paper 9:6-7.
Kar, C.S. and Bhaskar, S. 1982. The status of sea turtles in the Eastern Indian Ocean. I: Bjorndal, K. (Ed.): The Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 365-372.
Lazell, J.D. Jr. 1980. Marine turtles in India. Copeia 2:374-375.
Shantharam, B. 1975. The marine edible turtles. Sea Food Exp. J. 7:31-33.
Silas, E.G. et al. 1980. India: status paper on coastal fishery resources along the east coast. In: Report of the consultation on stock assessment for small-scale fisheries in the Bay of Bengal. Chittagong, Bangladesh 16-21 June 1980, 2:23-44.