Chennai: Tamil Nadu and Andhra coasts have turned deadly for the nesting Olive Ridley turtles that visit the Coromandel coasts.

Nellore, Chennai and Nagapattinam coasts have recorded a decadal decline in the number of turtle nesting due to increased fishing and trawler activities. At least two studies United Nations Development Programme in 2001 and 2005, and one field survey by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) 2001-12 — backed by the Centre, have shown that the number of nestings by turtles has gone down in Chennai, Mamallapuram-Pudhucherry and Nagapattinam coast by more than 60 per cent.

Concerned over the alarming death of Olive Ridley turtles, particularly along the Nellore coast, Andhra’s principal chief conservator of forests A.V. Joseph had recently shot a communiqué to inspector general of Coastguard Satya Prakash Sharma, requesting the services to join the turtle conservation programme.

“A memorandum on the alarming deaths of turtles compiled with inputs from forest, fisheries, Coastguard and coastal security groups had been submitted to the state forest departments of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh,” said marine conservationist Supraja Dharini of Tree Foundation.

For every kilometre of the Chennai coast, renowned herpetologist Romulus Whitaker and his team recorded at least 100 nests from 1974 to 78, but this number has now declined to 10 to 12 nests per km along the Chennai coastline, says Ms Dharini.

She recalled that on February 22, mass stranding of over 800 Olive Ridley sea turtles along the Andhra Pradesh coast was recorded and the survey details with pictures was also shared with Andhra foresters.

According to regulations, mechanised trawler boats are not allowed to operate within 8 km of the shore in Andhra Pradesh, 5.5 km in Tamil Nadu and 5 km in Odisha as per the respective Marine Fisheries Regulation Acts of the states. But these limits are ignored and the increase in trawling activities has been adversely affecting the turtles.