part 1 introduction - sea turtles of india

Marine Turtles in the Indian Subcontinent: A Brief History 1

Pa r t 1

INTRODUCT ION

OLI

VE

RID

LEY

HAT

CH

LIN

G (

PHO

TO:

KART

IK S

HAN

KER)

2 Marine Turtles of India


Marine TMarine TMarine TMarine TMarine Turururururtles in the Indian Subcontinent:tles in the Indian Subcontinent:tles in the Indian Subcontinent:tles in the Indian Subcontinent:tles in the Indian Subcontinent:A Brief HistorA Brief HistorA Brief HistorA Brief HistorA Brief Historyyyyy

Kartik Shanker and B C Choudhury

India has a coastline of ~8,000 km, including the mainland coast and the coasts of theoffshore islands of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep. Four species of marineturtles, including the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), green turtle (Chelonia mydas),leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), neston Indian coasts and are found in Indian territorial waters (for an early review, see Karand Bhaskar 1982, Bhaskar 1981, 1984). There are a few reports of loggerhead turtles(Caretta caretta) from Indian waters, though no known nesting beaches have beendiscovered; loggerheads, however, do nest in small numbers in Sri Lanka (Tripathy2005).

Olive ridleys nest on both east and west coasts of the Indian mainland (including theoffshore islands), as well as on the coasts of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan (Biswas1982, Kar and Bhaskar 1982). The olive ridley population in Orissa is of obvious globalsignificance—it is one the major mass-nesting rookeries in the world, the others beingLa Escobilla in Mexico, and Playa Ostional and Playa Nancite in Costa Rica (Pritchard1997). Furthermore, recent studies have indicated the uniqueness of the Indian oliveridley population in comparison to other global populations (Shanker et al 2004a). Theseturtles may have served as an evolutionary source for the re-colonisation of ridleys inthe Pacific and Atlantic oceans, after the extirpation of populations in those basins(Shanker et al 2004a). Several thousand ridleys may also nest in Andhra Pradesh (Tripathyet al 2003), Tamil Nadu (Bhupathy and Saravanan 2002) and the Andaman and NicobarIslands (Andrews et al 2001).

Large leatherback populations are currently restricted to the islands of Great Nicobarand Little Nicobar; a few turtles nest in the Andamans (Andrews et al 2001) and in

1


Sri Lanka (Ekanayake et al 2001). Given the recent decline of Pacific leatherbacks, theIndian Ocean populations assume greater significance, especially the ones in the Nicobars(Andrews and Shanker 2002) and Sri Lanka (Ekanayake et al 2002).

Green turtles nest in Pakistan and Gujarat on the west coast, and also in the Lakshadweeparchipelago, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and in Sri Lanka (Kar and Bhaskar1982). Hawksbills nest in large numbers only in the Andamans, but some nesting occursin the Nicobars, Lakshadweep and Sri Lanka (Kar and Bhaskar 1982). In thesubcontinent, the only nesting grounds for loggerheads are in Sri Lanka. Major marineturtle feeding areas occur off the west coast of India in the Gulf of Kachchh, in thelagoons of the Lakshadweep Islands, off the coasts of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, and inthe Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The subcontinent is clearly an important region for marine turtles. However, theseturtles are under severe threat from fishery-related mortality, depredation of eggs andother threats related to development. Despite decades of research at some sites, the datais not standardised and is difficult to interpret (Shanker et al 2004b). For many othersites, information derives from surveys done more than twenty years ago, or there is noinformation at all. Most of these early surveys were carried out by Satish Bhaskar forthe Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (see Kar and Bhaskar 1982, Bhaskar 1984, Whitaker,this volume, Chapter 2). The GOI–UNDP surveys during 2000–02 were carried outto bridge this gap in information and to provide an update on the status and threats tomarine turtles in the Indian subcontinent (see Sharma, this volume, Chapter 3).

In this book, the chapters in Parts 2 and 3 examine the status and threats to marineturtles in India—in the coastal states of the Indian mainland and the offshore islands ofLakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar. To provide a complete picture for South Asia,the following section reviews the marine turtles of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.This is followed by a closer examination of fishery-related issues, including causes andeffects, and potential solutions such as turtle excluder devices. We then examineconservation programmes and legal issues; reviews of community-based conservationand legislation that were carried out under the GOI–UNDP project, followed by achapter on international instruments for marine turtle conservation. In the final section,we present some recent research that serves to enhance our understanding of the biologyand conservation of these species.

Before Research and Conservation

There are relatively few historic records of any interaction between humans and turtlesin the subcontinent, though there are some pre-Christian accounts of trade intortoiseshell from India and Sri Lanka (Frazier 2003, de Silva, this volume, chapter 15).A Tamil poem from the fourth century AD describes the nesting of a marine turtle(Sanjeeva Raj 1958). In the eighteenth century, the captain of a ship writes of thousandsof turtles on the Balasore coast of Orissa (Hamilton 1727, c.f. Mohanty-Hejmadi 2000).There are also nineteenth-century records from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, ofthe harvesting of turtles by the indigenous people of the islands and the Britishadministrators (see Andrews et al, this volume, Chapter 4).


Adult marine turtles were not harmed in most parts of the Indian subcontinent. ForHindus, a religious belief states that turtles are an incarnation (the kurma avatar) ofVishnu, one of the gods of the Hindu trinity. There is a temple (Sri KurmanadhaDevasthanam) at Srikurmam in Andhra Pradesh, on the east coast of India, where theidol of a turtle is worshipped (see Chapter 6). Muslims in the subcontinent generallydo not eat turtles; Islamic custom forbids the consumption of certain animals, consideredharam or unclean. While turtles are not strictly haram, they may fall into one or anotherof the interim categories (e.g. makrooh – religiously disliked but not forbidden). Thisambiguity in the classification of marine turtles may have resulted in a certain degree ofprotection amongst local Muslims. Christians and ethnic tribal communities do eatturtle meat and eggs. However, in many areas where turtles eggs were exploited, a feweggs (between 2–5) would be left in the nest to ensure the perpetuation of the species(Madhyastha 1986, Pandav et al 1994, Giri 2001, pers. obs.).

Despite the absence of records, marine turtles were well known along the coast of India.Reports have been kept of their occurrence by early maritime visitors, particularly alongthe Kerala, Gujarat and Orissa coasts (Hamilton 1727, Mannadiar 1977). There are alsospecies records in ZSI and CMFRI archives, and the district gazettes of various statesalong the west and east coasts, with special reference to trade in hawksbill, green andolive ridley turtles (Annandale 1915, Gardiner 1903 and 1906, Greaves 1933, Chari1964, Shanmugasundaram 1968, Santharam 1975, Mannadiar 1977, Dutt 1979, Das1984, Anon 1991).

Most early accounts deal with chelonians in the context of their consumptive value(Acharji 1950, Murthy and Menon 1976, Murthy 1981). In Orissa, the locals exploitedturtle eggs, which were collected in boatloads (Dash and Kar 1987). Though marineturtles were killed at many sites, the two main centres of the turtle trade were the Gulfof Mannar (Kuriyan 1950) and Orissa (Dash and Kar 1990). In the Gulf of Mannar,green turtles were taken in large numbers on both sides—the Sri Lankan as well as theTamil coasts (Jones and Fernando 1968). The estimate is that four to six thousand turtleswere taken annually in the late 1960s in southern Tamil Nadu, with about three quarterof these being green turtles.

In Orissa, Kanika was under a zamindari during the British period, which levied a revenue(called andakara) for the collection of eggs from the Gahirmatha mass-nesting beaches.In 1957, the management was transferred to Anchal Sasan of the state’s revenuedepartment. The forest department of Orissa then issued licenses for the collection ofeggs, at the rate of Rs. 15 per boatload of eggs, each boat containing roughly between35,000 to 100,000 eggs (Dash and Kar 1987, Kar 1988). Eggs were sold in all the riversidevillages where they were either consumed by poorer communities or transported toKolkata (formerly Calcutta). Locally, turtle eggs were preserved in large quantities bysun-drying and also used as cattle-feed. The estimated legal take in the 1973 season was150,000 eggs (FAO 1974), but the actual illegal take was probably much more (Dashand Kar 1987). The Orissa forest department stopped issuing licenses after the 1974–75nesting season; in 1976, marine turtles were placed in Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972.


Prior to the 1970s, there was no organised turtle fishery in Orissa. But whenever adultmarine turtles were found alive in fishing nets, they were collected and transported tonearby railway stations, from where they were booked to Kolkata. Live turtles werebooked almost everyday to Kolkata from Puri, Bhubaneshwar, Maltipatpur and almostall the coastal railway stations of Orissa. Turtles were often booked as fishery products,so the magnitude of this trade is difficult to assess (Kar 1988, Dash and Kar 1990).Biswas (1982) reports that over 6,000 turtles were dispatched from Puri during threemonths in 1974–75. He also reports that 21,000 turtles were despatched to Kolkatafrom Digha, in three months in 1978–79. Many accounts report an annual catch of~50,000 turtles from the Orissa and West Bengal coasts, till about 1980 (see Silas et al1983a and b, Kar and Dash 1984, Das 1985). Obviously, the increase in adult take wasdue to the introduction of mechanised fishing in the ’70s. The launch of a massiveprotection programme in Orissa—involving the navy and coast guard, and state law-enforcing agencies like the forest, fisheries and police departments—led to the collapseof this illegal trade in marine turtles in 1984–85 (Kar and Dash 1984).

Marine Turtle Surveys and Research

I N I T I A L S U R V E Y S

Surveys and documentation of marine turtles in India began at two sites, namelyGahirmatha in Orissa, and Chennai (formerly Madras) in Tamil Nadu. The mass-nestingof turtles in Orissa was first reported in 1973, by J C Daniel and S A Hussain of theBombay Natural History Society, but was confirmed and announced to the scientificworld at large by H R Bustard, an FAO consultant, following a survey on crocodiles inthe region (Bustard 1974, FAO 1976). Following this, a research programme wasestablished and monitoring was initiated (see Dash and Kar 1984, Dash and Kar 1990).This led to the discovery of other mass-nesting sites in Devi river mouth (Kar 1982)and in Rushikulya (Pandav et al 1994). Subsequently, the Orissa coast was monitoredby the Orissa forest department and the Wildlife Institute of India (Pandav 2000).

In Chennai, monitoring of status and threats (and hatchery programmes forconservation) were initiated by the Madras Snake Park Trust (Valliapan and Whitaker1974). Satish Bhaskar, who was a part of this group, would survey much of the Indiancoast over the next few years—including Gujarat (Bhaskar 1978, 1984), Lakshadweep(Bhaskar 1979a, 1984), the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Bhaskar 1979b), Goa, AndhraPradesh and Kerala (Bhaskar 1984) (see also Whitaker, Chapter 2). His extensive surveysin the Andaman and Nicobar Islands provide a wealth of information for the region(see Andrews et al, Chapter 4). Marine turtle monitoring in Chennai has been nearlycontinuous over the last thirty years, thanks to the efforts of the Madras Snake ParkTrust (1973–76), Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (1977–81), the Tamil Naduforest department (1982–87) and the Students’ Sea Turtle Conservation Network (1988–present) (Shanker 1995, 2003). Surveys were also carried out in Andhra Pradesh (RajaSekhar and Subba Rao 1987, Priyadarshini 1998), Karnataka (Madyastha et al 1985),Gujarat and Karnataka (Frazier 1989a, 1989b).

A picture emerges here of extensive surveys of the entire coastline by Bhaskar in the late


’70s and ’80s, followed by his detailed surveys in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands inthe ’90s. After this, efforts are fragmented, barring the long-term monitoring programmesin Orissa and Chennai on the east coast. This serves as the backdrop for the detailedsurveys carried out under the GOI–UNDP project between 2000–03. Currently,monitoring is continuing in many states—under the auspices of a project funded by theConvention on the Conservation of Migratory Species—including Gujarat (GujaratInstitute of Desert Ecology), Maharashtra and Goa (Bombay Natural History Society)and Tamil Nadu and Kerala (Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History).The Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team has been monitoring the nesting beachat Galathea in Great Nicobar Island from 2001. Thus the GOI–UNDP project provideda significant fillip to marine turtle monitoring throughout the country.

A N O V E R V I E W O F R E S E A R C H

H R Bustard initiated research programmes in Orissa with several forest officers, mostnotably C S Kar, who worked for his PhD thesis on the olive ridleys of Gahirmatha(Kar 1988). Kar tagged more than 10,000 nesting turtles between 1975–80 and carriedout extensive research, summarised in Dash and Kar (1990). The Orissa forestdepartment continued its research and monitoring programme at Gahirmatha.Rajasekhar (1987) also submitted a doctoral thesis on marine turtles in Andhra Pradesh.Several research programmes were initiated during the ’90s, notably the Wildlife Instituteof India’s programme in Orissa, which led to the discovery of the mass-nesting site atRushikulya (Pandav et al 1994). The programme carried out extensive tagging of matingpairs (for the first time in India) and nesting turtles on the coast of India (Pandav 2000).Pandav (2000) conducted research in Orissa, on offshore distributions, nesting andother aspects of reproductive biology, tagging over 1,500 mating pairs and 10,000 nestingturtles. The programme also documented a rapid increase in fishery-related mortalityof ridleys in Orissa (Pandav et al 1998, Pandav and Choudhury 1999), leading to anumber of NGO campaigns and increase in media interest in olive ridleys. Ram (2000)and Tripathy (2004) studied offshore distributions of mating turtles in Gahirmatha andRushikulya, respectively.

In the ’80s, research was initiated at Utkal University, Orissa on temperature sexdetermination in olive ridley turtles and on other aspects of their biology (Dimond andMohanty-Hejmadi 1983, Mohanty-Hejmadi et al 1984, 1989, Sahoo et al 1996, 1998).At around the same, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute initiated studies inOrissa and Chennai (Silas et al 1983a, 1983b, 1985, see papers in Silas 1984). Rajagopalan(1989) completed his PhD thesis on eco-physiological studies on marine turtles, andhis students have recently completed their PhD theses on marine turtles as well (Kannan2004, Venkatesan 2004).

Little is also known about the migratory paths followed by the marine turtles that nestin Orissa, though anecdotal accounts (Oliver 1946, Deraniyagala 1953, Whitaker andKar 1984) suggest that large numbers of turtles have been seen migrating together alongthe east coast of India. As an activity of the GOI–UNDP Sea Turtle Project, the WildlifeInstitute of India, the Orissa forest department and the Smithsonian Institution,Washington DC collaborated to attach satellite transmitters on four female olive ridleys


in Orissa in April 2001. One of these turtles migrated to Sri Lanka over the course ofthe next four months, while the others remained in the offshore waters of Orissa (for amap, see http://www.wii.gov.in/webs/satindex.html).

Most recently, studies have been initiated on the molecular genetics of marine turtlesalong the mainland coast and islands of India. Olive ridleys on the east coast of Indiaappear to be genetically distinct from other global populations, and even differsignificantly from the adjacent population in Sri Lanka (Shanker et al 2004a). Shankeret al (2004a) also propose that the Indian olive ridley and the Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelyskempi) could be remnants of a global population which was otherwise extirpated followingclimatic changes prior to and after the closure of the Isthmus of Panama. Thus, theIndian Ocean region, and in particular the distinct Indian population, may have servedas a source for ridley re-colonisations following the extirpation of populations in otherocean basins.

Marine Turtle Conservation

I N I N D I A

Along with the monitoring programmes, marine turtle conservation was also initiatedin Orissa and Chennai in the early ’70s. While the Orissa programme was coordinatedby the forest department, the turtle hatcheries in Chennai were at first operated by theMadras Snake Park, and later by the CMFRI and the Tamil Nadu forest department.Since 1988, it has been operated by a non government organisation, the Students’ SeaTurtle Conservation Network (SSTCN) (see Shanker 2003 for a review). Student andNGO programmes were initiated at a number of other sites. Many programmes likeTHEERAM in Kolavipaalam (Kerala), the Students’ Sea Turtle Conservation Network,Chennai and Green Mercy and Dolphin Nature Club, Visakhapatnam have beachprotection programmes as well as hatcheries for the protection of marine turtles. Moreimportantly, these programmes have served as powerful tools of education, spreadingawareness about marine turtles and coastal conservation. In Chennai, the Trust forEnvironmental Education (TREE) has recently mobilised youth groups in several fishingvillages to protect turtles and nests in the vicinity of their villages. THEERAM in Keralais of particular interest since it was initiated by a group of young fisher folk (Kutty2002).

Similar programmes have sprung up all along the coast, including Goa, where localcommunities have worked with the forest department to try and combine turtleprotection and eco-tourism (Kutty 2002). The Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra in Maharashtrahas been working with numerous villages along the coast of Maharashtra (Katdare andMone 2003). TREE organises youth from fishing villages into turtle protection unitsfor in situ protection of nests near their villages (Dharini 2003). The Madras CrocodileBank Trust conducts mobile exhibitions into fishing villages on weekends.

Marine turtle conservation in Orissa has a storied past, beginning in the early ’70s whenthe large-scale legal / incidental take of turtles from Gahirmatha was widely reported(Davis and Bedi 1978, see also Frazier 1980). In the early ’80s, numerous petitions andletter-writing campaigns were supported and endorsed through the Marine Turtle


Newsletter, an international newsletter (Mrosovsky et al 1982); several hundred letterswere written to then prime minister, Indira Gandhi (Mrosovsky 1983).

J Vijaya, a young and adventurous field biologist, conducted field surveys in the early ’80sand reported large numbers of turtles being sold in fish markets near Kolkata (Vijaya1982, Moll et al 1983). This, along with her photographs of hundreds of turtle carcasses(published in India Today, see Bobb 1982), brought even more attention to theextraordinary numbers of turtles being killed in Orissa. Prime Minister Gandhi’s supportand her initiative to involve the coast guard in protecting the marine area at Gahirmathahelped drastically reduce direct take to a point where it was thought to be negligible.

However, even then, incidental mortality was considered a major threat by E G Silas,then director of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (Silas 1984). Incidentalmortality was reported through the ’80s (James et al 1989), and in the 1990s, BivashPandav of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun reported thousands of strandedcarcasses in Gahirmatha and other neighbouring beaches, which he attributed to highincidental mortality in offshore trawling. He advised immediate remedial action (Pandavand Choudhury 1999, Pandav 2000).

Other conservation programmes were launched during this period, most notablyOperation Kachhapa in Orissa, which is a collaboration between government and nongovernment organisations to protect marine turtles on the Orissa coast, particularlywith a view to reducing trawler-related mortality (Shanker and Mohanty 1999, Wrightand Mohanty, Chapter 23). In 2000, the Annual Symposium of Sea Turtle Biology andConservation in Orissa passed two resolutions on this issue: the ‘urgent need to reviewcoastal development plans in order to conserve olive ridley marine turtles as well ascritical nesting habitat [sic] for the turtles and other endangered species on the Orissacoast, India,’ and the ‘urgent need to reduce trawling-related mortality of olive ridleymarine turtles on the Orissa coast, India.’ (Anon. 2000).

All told, there has been a tremendous amount of attention focussed on the olive ridleysin Orissa, both nationally and internationally. Towards the end of 2004, traditionalfishworkers, local conservation groups and national conservation agencies came togetherat the Orissa Marine Resources Conservation Consortium to pursue common objectivesfor the conservation of marine resources, including marine turtles, while promotingthe livelihoods of the fishing communities (Aleya 2004).

O N T H E S U B C O N T I N E N T

By sheer size, India tends to dominate the subcontinent, but there are significant marineturtle populations in the other countries, and the contribution of these conservationprogrammes has made a great impact. In Pakistan, the Sindh wildlife department hasbeen monitoring green turtles and olive ridleys for over two decades at Hawksbay andSandspit (on the Karachi coast), a 20-km stretch of beach (Kabraji and Firdous 1984).There is believed to be a decline in nesting, particularly of olive ridley turtles (Asrar1999). Surveys have provided some information of the Balochistan coast (Groombridgeet al 1998, Groombridge 1989) and more information has been forthcoming in recentyears (see Qureshi, Chapter 17)


The majority of Sri Lanka’s population are Sinhalese Buddhists who neither eat turtlesnor their eggs. However, the Sinhalese Christians and Tamils in northern Sri Lankahave been involved in the exploitation of turtles for generations; the Tamils in Jaffna areaccomplished turtle-catchers and use(d) a variety of nets to capture marine turtles (Frazier1980, Hewavisenthi 1990). Recently, many marine turtle hatcheries have been set up allover Sri Lanka, mainly for tourism. Poor management practices (such as retention ofhatchlings in tanks) and low hatching success of translocated eggs, means that thesehatcheries may also be detrimental to marine turtle populations (Amarasooriya 1996,Hewavisenthi 1993). Dattari and Samarajiva (1982) carried out early surveys in theregion. More recently, the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) has been active inconducting surveys of nesting and incidental catch, and has also initiated conservationprogrammes at many sites (See Kapurusinghe, Chapter 14). TCP strongly promotescommunity-based conservation, involving local communities as nest protectors.

In Bangladesh, data indicates far higher nesting densities in the past, which is consistentwith the high levels of exploitation reported in this region (Islam 2001, Islam 2002).While most Bangladeshis (90 per cent) are Muslim and will not consume turtles orturtle products, they will trade in meat, eggs and turtle carapaces to other communitiesin Bangladesh, India and Myanmar (Islam 2001). Das (1989) reports that the Bangladeshistraded meat for rice with the Burmese. In Bangladesh, marine turtle conservation hascentred around St. Martin’s Island (see Rashid and Islam, Chapter 16)

Conclusion

The degree of similarity between the threats to marine turtles discussed at the CMFRIworkshop in 1984 and major threats to marine turtles today is not an encouraging sign.Fishery-related mortality, depredation of eggs, beach erosion, development and Casuarinaplantations were all emphasised then, and remain threats even today, some more sothan before. Despite twenty years of research and conservation efforts, none of thesethreats has been mitigated. On the other hand, the number of agencies, individuals andgovernment sectors that are currently interested and involved in marine turtleconservation is greatly encouraging. There are small conservation programmes all aroundthe country. Within the government, the Ministries of Commerce and Agriculture havebecome involved in marine turtle conservation. Organisations such as the CentralInstitute of Fisheries Technology and Marine Products Export Development Authorityand several state fisheries agencies are involved in developing and promoting turtleexcluder devices. Nearly all state forest departments run marine turtle hatcheries orsupport small non government organisations. The coast guard has been interested andinvolved in turtle conservation in many states, particularly in Orissa, where they havebeen active since the early ’80s. The GOI–UNDP project involved numerous partnersin coastal states around the country who continue to be active participants in marineturtle monitoring and conservation.

There is, however, still a clear gap between intent and success. Despite the interest andinvolvement of diverse stakeholders, things have not improved for marine turtles. Thereis clearly a need for dialogue, cooperation and coordination between agencies, bothwithin the government, and between government and non government agencies. The


participatory approach to management has been greatly stressed in recent times and thisincludes networking and involvement of multiple stakeholders. Another important issuewould be the economic concerns of stakeholders, particularly local communities.Responsible marine fisheries are required, and not merely from the point of view ofmarine turtle conservation.

We hope that after the decades that witnessed the birth of research, conservation andNGO participation, this will be the decade of partnership and collaboration, of consensualaction between diverse stakeholders, towards the common objective of marine turtleconservation on the Indian subcontinent.

Literature Cited

Acharji, M N. 1950. Edible chelonians and their products. J. of the Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 49:529–532.

Aleya, K. 2004. Initiatives towards consensus—the Orissa marine resources conservationconsortium. Indian Ocean Turtle Newsl. 1: 12–13.

Amarasooriya, D. 1996. Turtle hatcheries: Is it additional disaster for the turtle fauna of SriLanka? In Proceedings of the International Conference on the Biology and Conservation of the Amphibiansand Reptiles of South Asia, Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Andrews, H V, S Krishnan, and P Biswas. 2001. The status and distribution of marine turtlesaround the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. GOI–UNDP marine turtle project report.Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Tamil Nadu, India.

Andrews, H V, and K Shanker. 2002. A significant population of leatherback turtles in theIndian Ocean. Kachhapa 6:17.

Annandale, N. 1915. Notes on some Indian Chelonia. Record of Indian Museum 11: 189–195.

Anonymous. 1978. The vanishing turtle. CMFRI Newsl. 7: 5–6.

Anonymous. 1991. State fauna series 2, Lakshadweep. Record of Zool. Survey of India, Kolkata.

Anonymous. 2000. Resolutions on Orissa at the Sea Turtle Symposium in March 2000.Kachhapa 3: 11–13.

Asrar, F F. 1999. Decline of marine turtle nesting populations in Pakistan. Marine TurtleNewsl. 83: 13–14.

Bhaskar, S. 1978. Note from the Gulf of Kutch. Hamadryad 3: 9–10.

Bhaskar, S. 1979a. Notes from Lakshadweep. Hamadryad 4(1): 7–9.

Bhaskar, S. 1979b. Sea turtle survey in the Andamans and Nicobars. Hamadryad 4(3): 2–19.

Bhaskar, S. 1981. Preliminary report on the status and distribution of sea turtles in Indianwaters. Indian Forester 107: 707–711.

Bhaskar, S. 1984. The distribution and status of sea turtles in India. In Proceedings of theWorkshop on Sea Turtle Conservation, ed. E G Silas. CMFRI Special Publication 18: 21–35.

Bhupathy, S, and S Saravanan. 2002. Status survey of sea turtles along the Tamilnadu coast.A GOI–UNDP Sea Turtle Project Report. Coimbatore: SACON.

Biswas, S. 1982. A report on the olive ridley Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz) (Testudines:Chelonidae) of the Bay of Bengal . Record of Zool. Survey of India 79: 275–302.


Bobb, D. 1982. Massacre at Digha. India Today 31: 64–65.

Bustard, H R. 1976. World’s largest sea turtle rookery? Tiger Paper 3: 25.

Chari, S T. 1964. Marine turtle fishery of India. Indian Seafoods 2(1): 9–11.

Das, I. 1984. Survey of turtle trade in Eastern India, with recommendations for turtleconservation. Report to the World Wildlife Fund–India.

Das, I. 1985. Marine Turtle Drain. Hamadryad 10: 17.

Das, I. 1989. Sea turtles and coastal habitats in southeastern Bangladesh. Project report tothe Sea turtle Rescue Fund/ Centre for Marine Conservation, Washington DC, USA.

Dash, M C, and C S Kar. 1987. Conservation and management of sea turtle resource inOrissa coast. Journal of Environment and Ecotoxicology. 303–316.

Dash, M C, and C S Kar. 1990. The turtle paradise–Gahirmatha. New Delhi: Interprint. 295 pp.

Dattari, S, and D Samarajiva. 1982. The status and conservation of sea turtles in Sri Lanka. Aproject of the sea turtle rescue fund, Center for Environmental Education, Washington DC,USA.

Deraniyagala, P E P. 1953. A colored atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon, Vol. 2. Tetrapodreptilia. Ceylon Government Press.

Dharini, S. 2003. Turtle conservation by local communities in Madras. Kachhapa 8: 22.

Dimond, M T, and P Mohanty–Hejmadi. 1983. Incubation temperature and sexdifferentiation in a sea turtle. American Zoologist 23: 1017.

Dutt, S. 1979. Sea turtle notes from Visakhapatnam. Hamadryad 4(2): 2–3.

Ekanayake, E M L, T Kapurasinghe, M M Saman, and M G C Premakumara. 2002. Estimationof the number of leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) nesting at the Godavaya rookery insouthern Sri Lanka during the nesting season in 2001. Kachhapa 6:11–12.

FAO. 1974. India: A preliminary survey of the prospects for crocodile farming (based on the works ofDr H R Bustard). Rome: FAO. 1–50.

Frazier, J G. 1980. Exploitation of marine turtles in the Indian Ocean. Human Ecology 8:329–370.

Frazier, J G. 1989a. Survey of the marine turtle hatcheries of Karnataka. Hamadryad 14(2):8–18.

Frazier, J.G. 1989b. A report on a trip to Mangrol, Gujarat. Unpublished Report.

Frazier, J G. 2003. Prehistoric and ancient historic interactions between humans and marineturtles. In The biology of sea turtles (Vol II), ed. P L Lutz, J A Musick and J Wyneken. BocaRaton: CRC Press. 1–38.

Gardiner, S. 1903 & 1906. The fauna and geography of the Maldive and Laccadive archipelago.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Giri, V. 2001. Survey of marine turtles along the coast of Maharastra and Goa. A GOI–UNDP sea turtle project report. Mumbai: Bombay Natural History Society.

Greaves, J B. 1933. Notes on the Loggerhead (Caretta caretta olivacea) (Eschscholtz) depositingits eggs. J. of Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 37(1&2): 494–495.

Groombridge, B. 1989. Aerial survey of the Baluchistan coast (Pakistan). Marine Turtle Newsl.46: 6–9.


Groombridge, B, A M Kabraji, and A R Rao. 1988. Marine turtles in Baluchistan (Pakistan).Marine Turtle Newsl. 42:1–3.

Hamilton, A. 1727. A new account of the East Indies (Volume I). Edinburgh: printed by JohnMosman (One of His Majesty’s Printers) and sold at the King’s Printing House in Craig’sClof MDCCXXVII.

Hewavisenthi, S. 1990. Exploitation of marine turtles in Sri Lanka: Historic backgroundand the present status. Marine Turtle Newsl. 48: 14–19.

Hewavisenthi, S. 1993. Sri Lanka’s hatcheries: Boon or bane? Marine Turtle Newsl. 49.

Islam, M Z. 2001. Notes on the trade in marine turtle products in Bangladesh. Marine TurtleNewsl. 94: 10

Islam, M Z. 2002. Marine turtle nesting at St. Martin’s Island, Bangladesh. Marine TurtleNewsl. 96: 19–21.

James, P S B R, M Rajagopalan, S S Dan, A Bastion Fernando, V Selvaraj. 1989. On themortality of marine mammals and turtles at Gahirmatha, Orissa from 1983 to1987. J. ofMarine Biol. Assoc. of India 31: 28–35.

Jones, S, and A B Fernando. 1968. The present state of the turtle fishery in the Gulf ofMannar and Palk Bay. In The Symposium of Living Resources of the Seas Around India, Cochin.712–715.

Kabraji, A M, and F Firdous. 1984. Conservation of turtles in Hawksbay and Sandspit, Pakistan.WWF–International and Sind Wildlife Management Board, Karachi.

Kannan, P. 2004. Studies on the biology and incidental catch of sea turtles in selected centresalong the Indian coast. University of Madras, India.

Kar, C S. 1982. Discovery of second mass-nesting ground of the Pacific olive ridley seaturtles Lepidochelys olivacea in Orissa, India. Tiger Paper 9: 6–7.

Kar, C S. 1988. Ecological studies on the Pacific ridley sea turtle, Lepidochelys olivacea(Eschscholtz 1829) in the Orissa Coast. Ph D Thesis, Sambalpur University, Sambalpur.

Kar, C S, and S Bhaskar. 1982. The status of sea turtles in the eastern Indian Ocean. In Thebiology and conservation of sea turtles, ed. K Bjorndal. Washington DC: Smithsonian InstitutionPress. 365–372.

Kar, C S, and M C Dash. 1984. Conservation and status of sea turtles in Orissa. In Proceedingsof the workshop on sea turtle conservation, ed. E G Silas. CMFRI Special Publication No 18:93–107.

Katdare, V, and R Mone. 2003. Turtle conservation in Konkan, Maharashtra, India. Kachhapa9: 7–8.

Kutty, R. 2002. Community-based conservation of sea turtle nesting sites in Goa, Kerala andOrissa. A GOI–UNDP sea turtle project report. Kalpavriksh, Pune, India.

Madhyastha, M N, B K Sharath, and I Jayaprakash Rao. 1986. Preliminary studies on marineturtle hatchery at Bengre beach, Mangalore. Mahasagar Bull. of the National Inst. of Oceanography19(2): 137–140.

Mannadiar, N S. 1977. Gazetteer of India–Lakshadweep. Administration of the UT ofLakshadweep, Govt. of India Press. 375 pp.

Mohanty-Hejmadi, P. 2000. Earliest record of Gahirmatha turtles. Marine Turtle Newsl. 88:11–12.


Mohanty-Hejmadi, P, M T Dimond, and J Kanungo. 1984. Biochemical constituents ofserum of young female hatchlings of olive ridley Lepidochelys olivacea. Marine Turtle Newsl.27:4–5

Mohanty-Hejamdi, P, M Behera, and S K Dutta. 1989. Commensals on the olive ridley seaturtle. Marine Turtle Newsl. 45:11–13.

Moll, E O, S Bhaskar, and J Vijaya. 1983. Update on the olive ridley on the coast of India.Marine Turtle Newsl. 25: 2–4.

Mrosovsky, N. 1983. Editorial. Marine Turtle Newsl. 25: 1

Mrosovsky, N, P C H Pritchard, and H F Hirth. 1982. Editorial. Marine Turtle Newsl. 23:1–2.

Murthy, T S N. 1981. Turtles: Their natural history, economic importance and conservation.Zoologiana 4: 57–65.

Murthy, T S N, and G K Menon. 1976. The turtle resources of India. Seafood Export J. 8(1):1–12.

Oliver, J A. 1946. An aggregation of Pacific sea turtles. Copeia 1946: 103.

Pandav, B. 2000. Conservation and management of olive ridley sea turtles on the Orissacoast. Ph D Thesis, Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar, India.

Pandav, B, B C Choudhury, and C S Kar. 1994. A status survey of the olive ridley sea turtle(Lepidochelys olivacea) and its nesting habitats along the Orissa coast, India. Wildlife Instituteof India.

Pandav, B, B C Choudhury, and K Shanker. 1998. The olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelysolivacea) in Orissa: An urgent call for a intensive and integrated conservation programme.Current Science 75: 1323–1328.

Pandav, B, and B C Choudhury. 1999. An update on morality of olive ridley sea turtles inOrissa, India. Marine Turtle Newsl. 83: 10–12.

Priyadarshini, K V R. 1998. Status, ecology and management of olive ridley sea turtles andtheir nesting habitats along north coastal Andhra Pradesh. Annual Report (Jan 1997–Jun1998), WWF–India.

Pritchard, P C H. 1997. Evolution, phylogeny and current status. In The biology of sea turtles,ed. P L Lutz and J A Musick. Boca Raton: CRC Press. 1–28.

Raja Sekhar, P S. 1987. Captive propagation and management of an endangered sea turtle(Lepidochelys olivacea) (Eschscholtz) of the northern Andhra Coast. Doctoral thesis, AndhraUniversity, Visakhapatnam, India. 1–93.

Raja Sekhar, P S, and M V Subba Rao. 1988. Conservation and management of the endangeredolive ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz) along the northern Andhra Pradeshcoastline, India. B.C.G. Testudo 3(5): 35–53.

Rajagopalan, M. 1989. Ecophysiological studies on the marine turtle Lepidochelys olivacea.University of Madras, India.

Rajagopalan, M, E Vivekanandan, S K Pillai, M Srinath, and A Bastion Fernando. 1996.Incidental catch of sea turtles in India. Marine Fisheries Information Services T&E Series 143:8–16.

Ram, K. 2000. Behavioural ecology of the olive ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys olivacea(Eschscholtz 1827) during the breeding period. M.Sc. Dissertation submitted to the SalimAli School of Ecology, Pondicherry University.


Ramana Murthy, K V. 2001. Conservation of sea turtles in northern Andhra Pradesh. Kachhapa4: 20–21.

Sahoo, G, B K Mohapatra, R K Sahoo, and P Mohanty-Hejmadi. 1996. Ultra structure andcharacteristics of eggshells of the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) from Gahirmatha,India. Acta Anatomica 156(4): 261–267.

Sahoo, G, R K Sahoo, and P Mohanty–Hejmadi. 1998. Calcium metabolism in olive ridleyturtle eggs during embryonic development. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology: A Molecularand Integrative Physiology 121(1): 91–97.

Sanjeeva Raj, P J. 1958. Egg–laying habits of sea turtles described in the Tamil Sangamliterature. J. of the Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 55(2): 361–363.

Santharam, B. 1975. The marine edible turtles. Seafood Export J. 7(10): 31–33.

Shanker, K. 1995. Conservation of sea turtles on the Madras coast. Marine Turtle Newsl. 64:3–6.

Shanker, K. 2003. Thirty years of sea turtle conservation on the Madras coast: a review.Kachhapa 8: 16–19.

Shanker, K, and B Mohanty. 1999. Operation Kachhapa: In search of a solution for the oliveridley of Orissa (Guest Editorial) Marine Turtle Newsl. 86: 1–3.

Shanker, K, J Ramadevi, B C Choudhury, L Singh and R K Aggarwal. 2004a. Phylogeographyof olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) on the east coast of India: Implications forconservation theory. Molecular Ecology 13: 1899–1909.

Shanker, K, B Pandav and B C Choudhury. 2004b. An assessment of olive ridley (Lepidochelysolivacea) nesting population in Orissa on the east coast of India. Biol. Cons. 115: 149–160.

Shanmugasundaram, P. 1968. Turtle industry. Indian seafoods 6: 18–19.

Silas, E G. 1984. Sea turtle research and conservation—some problem areas. Bull. of CentralMarine Fisheries Research Inst. 35: 3–8.

Silas, E G, M Rajagopalan, A Bastion Fernando, and S S Dan. 1983a. Marine turtleconservation and management: A survey of the situation in Orissa during 1981–82 and1982–83. Marine Fisheries Information Services T&E Series 50: 13–23.

Silas, E G, M Rajagopalan, and S S Dan. 1983b. Marine turtle conservation and management:A survey of the situation in West Bengal 1981–82 and 1982–83. Marine Fisheries InformationServices T&E Series 50: 24–33.

Silas, E G, M Rajagopalan, S S Dan, and A Bastion Fernando. 1985. On the large and miniarribadas of the olive ridley Lepidochelys olivacea at Gahirmatha, Orissa during the 1985 session.Marine Fisheries Information Services T&E Series 64: 1–16.

Tripathy, B. 2004. A study of the offshore distribution of olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelysolivacea) in the coastal waters of Rushikulya rookery along the Orissa coast, India. WildlifeConservation Society–India Programme, CWS, Bangalore. 34 pp.

Tripathy, B. 2005. Status of the loggerhead turtle in India. Current Science Vol. 88, 4: 535–536.

Tripathy, B, K Shanker, and B C Choudhury. 2003. A survey of olive ridley turtles and theirnesting habitats in Andhra Pradesh on the east coast of India. Oryx 37: 454–463.

Valliapan, S, and R Whitaker. 1974. Olive ridleys on the Coromandel coast. Madras SnakePark, Chennai, India.


Venkatesan, S. 2004. Ecological and physiological studies on the green sea turtle Cheloniamydas. Ph D Thesis, University of Madras, Chennai, India 112 pp.

Vijaya, J. 1982. Turtle slaughter in India. Marine Turtle Newsl. 23: 2.

Whitaker, R, and C S Kar. 1984. Arribada: Mass arrival of the turtles. Sanctuary Asia IV(2):140–149.

part 1 introduction - sea turtles of india

Documents