Chennai: Restricting night events, vehicular movement, and bonfires at beaches 200m from a turtle nesting site, creating ‘no-entry buffer zones’ 3m from eggs, and frequent monitoring have been mandated in the Tamil Nadu forest department’s standard operating procedure (SOP) for marine turtle conservation.The SOP, which was released by forest minister R V Ranjithkumar at the valedictory function of the Wildlife Week on Thursday, lays out guidelines for govt departments, coastal security groups, non-governmental organisations and public to protect and conserve marine turtles. The turtle season spans from Oct to Mar every year, with eggs hatching from Jan-end in the state. While the state has in place SOPs for Olive Ridleys, the newly released SOPs applies to all marine turtles.The SOP requires the forest department to ensure coordination among all stakeholders involved in turtle conservation, hold awareness and orientation sessions, conduct beach-clean-up drives, and set up hatcheries using bamboo poles and mesh/jute.The fisheries department must prevent boats from trawling within five nautical miles of turtle nesting sites. Trawlers must be equipped with turtle excluder devices, and fishers must not use harmful gear such as gillnets and trawl nets.Coastal security groups must conduct night patrols to prevent poaching during nesting. The forest department must record nest locations, geo-tag them, and apply natural repellents before hatching to protect the hatchlings from ant attacks. The public must not photograph the hatchlings, use torches or flashlights, and must only participate in turtle walks after obtaining requisite approval from the forest department. “The guidelines specifically cover pre-season (Oct-Dec), nesting season (Dec to Mar), and post-season (Apr-May) activities to be followed in turtle conservation. Forest Conservators, officers and wildlife wardens have been instructed to review them periodically,” Rakesh Kumar Dogra, principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden, said. Officers must also submit an annual report to the PCCF on the status of SOP implementation. Earlier at the event, an animal ambulance was flagged off.
