The announcement follows the increase in turtles from December 2024 and March 2025 along the northern Tamil coast. File | Photo Credit: B. Thamodharan
The Tamil Government assigned 84 lakh to monitor the fine movements of the Olive Ridley turtles along the coast of the state.
The aim of a two -year study, which will take place from 2025 to 2027, is to increase the efforts to maintain telemetric technology to monitor the behavior of turtles, nesting formulas and their interaction with fishing activity.
The announcement follows the increase in the death of turtles since December 2024 and March 2025 along the northern Tamil Nadu coast, where hundreds of Olive Ridley turtles were found, probably because of entanglement in fishing nets. Then the state government announced that the studies would be conducted to understand the factors threatening the species and improve their protection, especially during the nesting season.
According to the government order (GO) issued by Supriya Sah, another main secretary of the Department of Environment and Forest Changes 26, August 2025, the study will deploy satellite brands on 20 olive ridley turtles across important and vulnerable nesting points in Tamil Nadu, including the Chennai and Cauvera Cauver. These brands allow scientists to watch turtle movements in coastal waters during the nesting season from November to April. Together with satellite monitoring, 10,000 flipper labels will be used to indicate individual turtles, allowing long -term monitoring of their loyalty and migration patterns in the nest.
The Indian Institute for Wild Game (Wii) will lead satellite marking, while the advanced Nature Conservation Institute (AIWC) will conduct surveys on the coast to identify critical turtles of hotspots. These surveys will also assess the risk of side of the tortoises in the fishing zones, with local fishermen dealing with the observation of turtles and helping mapping of high -risk areas.
The 84-LAKH financing will be divided between Wii and AiWC. The Wii will receive 53.65 GBP Lakh for satellite marks, transmission costs and staff. AIWC will receive 30.29 GBP Lakh for field work, including boat rental, accommodation and purchase of Flipper tags.
Go stated that the aim of the study is to collect key data on migration routes Olive Ridley Turtle, Food Search and Nest Behavior, which will inform about future protection policies. This research will also help identify zones with a high preservative value where fishing activities may need to be regulated to reduce the tortoises, added.
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Published – August 30, 2025 11:01
