Tackling threats to turtles

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• Of the seven species of sea turtles that have been identified in the world, five lay eggs on the shores of Sri Lanka

Text and Pix By 

Shehan Gunasekara

Although it was night, our eyes were already accustomed to the dark, so we could make out the contours of the giant turtle as it approached the shore. It slowly made its way towards us, stopped at a certain point and began digging a hole with its front claws. 

As it dug away, the lightning in the distant skies brought moments of light. The turtle then moved from that spot to another and began digging another hole before shifting to yet another spot to dig yet another hole. By this time about two hours had passed since the turtle had reached the shore.

“Today she won’t be laying eggs because there is lightning… now if you want you can flash your camera and take pictures.” It was then that I got the ‘photo opportunity’ I had been waiting for and with the light of the powerful torch my guide was carrying, I took a few pictures.

American Tortoise Rescue marks 23 May as World Turtle Day. This date was first recognised as World Turtle Day in 2000. The objective behind having such a day was to draw people’s attention to help the turtle population survive and thrive, and spread awareness and knowledge on turtles.

Turtles, who have a lifespan of 150 years, only come to land to lay eggs. The female turtles who comes to the shore lay approximately 80 to 100 eggs in a hole that they dig and afterwards cover and protect adequately before heading back to the sea. 

After about 50 days the eggs mature and hatch. The baby turtles then dig their way from underground to the beach. But at this young stage, they fall easy prey to big crabs, birds and fish. Because of this, of the turtles that hatch, only a very small 2% grow to mature stage.  

Of the seven species of sea turtles that have been identified in the world, five lay eggs on the shores of Sri Lanka, from Benthara to Kahawa. The five sea turtles that you can spot in Sri Lanka are the Leatherback, Loggerhead, Hawksbill, Green turtle, and the Olive Ridley turtle. 

According to Section 30(1) of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance of 1972, it is a punishable offence to capture, injure, kill, possess or transport sea turtles and their eggs.

Even though people know that it is wrong to collect turtle eggs and run hatcheries, they continue to do so because of the immense popularity of turtle hatcheries among tourists, their profitability and also to overcome poverty. Thus many turtle conservation centres have cropped up along the Induruwa and Kosgoda coastline. 

The centres that work to conserve turtles are privately owned. Dudley Perera, an owner of a conservation centre, explained the work that is carried out by these establishments.

“From ancient times people have been eating turtle eggs. There are people who collect turtle eggs and sell them. Even though this is illegal in our country, a lot of low income earners do it. They collect eggs on the sly evading police detection and sell them in the market. It is with the earnings that some people live. What we do is identify these people and tell them to bring the eggs to us,” he explained.

Having purchased the eggs, they systematically nest the eggs back in the ground to hatch. Female turtles lay 150-200 eggs at a time. A minimum of 48 days pass before a baby turtle is born. After 48 days the turtle naturally scrapes its way up to the surface.

“Once they come to the surface, we place them in tanks and release 95% to the ocean on the very day they emerge on the surface. By nature turtles are not used to living in tanks and have to be released to the ocean. But because baby turtles fall prey to crows, hawks and seagulls during the day, we only release them at night to ensure a higher chance of the turtle surviving,” Perera said, adding that the remaining 5% are kept for about three days to raise awareness among schoolchildren and the public who visit.

There are two aspects that help this process of conservation. One is to divert eggs making their way to the market, hatch them and release the baby turtles to the sea and the other is through educational programmes. 

“We have volunteers from abroad who help us with labour. The volunteers feed the turtles in the tanks and release them to the sea. We charge them a fee for accommodation and provide them with meals,” Perera noted.

He said that on the coastal stretch of the Southern Province, from about Benthara to Mirissa, there are 15 to 20 such establishments that target tourists. “We also charge some money to maintain this place – Rs. 500 from a foreigner and Rs. 50 from a local.”

Going forward, Perera asserted that Government intervention is important and guidelines should be put in place. “These are all privately owned by individuals. At my centre there are eight permanent employees. There are also four part-time employees who come to work for a day when we clean the tanks. We give all of them EPF. If you go to close these at once, 15 families will lose their source of income, apart from the families of those who bring the eggs.”

The Government is currently contemplating introducing new laws to register and regulate these turtle conservation centres and limit the number of turtles a centre can retain to eight. 

As World Turtle Day approaches, the least we can do is recognise and appreciate the efforts of people who work to conserve sea turtles faced with the threat of extinction due to the wrongful activities of man.