The last event of this magnitude took place more than twenty years ago in India. Over the past two weeks, 400 olive ridley turtles, an endangered species, have been found dead, stranded near the city of Chennai on the country’s east coast.
Usually, the city records the death of between 100 and 200 adult turtles per year on its coast. The average risks exploding in 2025 since “this year, we have already exceeded 200 dead turtles in just over two weeks”explains Shravan Krishnan, a volunteer with the Students Sea Turtles Conservation Network based in Chennai.
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How did these turtles die? Probably drowned in the giant fishing nets installed on the ocean floor, experts report. According to Shantanu Kalambi, a marine veterinary specialist with the conservation organization ReefWatch, turtles, once captured by trawlers, can no longer emerge to breathe.
However, measures are in force to avoid this phenomenon. A government order was notably applied in 2016 to prevent the laying of giant nets within five nautical miles (9.26 kilometers) of the coastline during the turtle nesting period. The use of turtle exclusion devices, allowing reptiles to escape from the nets, was also made compulsory. However, this device would never have been adopted by fishermen, because it would reduce the number of their catches.
-Turtle reproduction, essential and increasingly difficult
Another sign that could explain the massacre is the drop in the number of nests on Indian beaches. In the city of Chennai, “we have only found four nests so far”says Shravan Krishnan to AP News. This figure, surprisingly low, which the local describes as “very worrying”could be linked to several elements: the intensification of human activity on the coasts, light pollution which would disorient baby turtles and the increase in average temperatures.
Every year, 500,000 turtles lay eggs on Indian beaches. It is estimated that only about one in 1,000 will live to adulthood and be able to reproduce.
According to Shantanu Kalambi, the disappearance of sea turtles would have serious ecological consequences: “As a species […]they play an essential role in the food chain. One of the main sources of food for the olive ridley being the jellyfish, the latter would risk multiplying if the turtle were to become extinct, taking advantage of the absence of its predator. A proliferation which could undermine the marine balance and have harmful consequences on its ecosystem.
