Sea turtles and their conservation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Abstract

Four species of sea turtles, leatherback, hawksbill, green and olive ridley, occur along the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, which consists of more than 300 islands with a coastline of about 1, 962 km. The green turtle is the most common species in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Sea turtles formed an important source of food for the original inhabitants of the Islands. Andaman and Nicobar Islands have the best nesting beaches and foraging grounds for sea turtles in India. The Islands are unique for sea grass meadows with nine species of sea grass. The leatherback sea turtle is unique as their nesting population in Nicobar Islands formed one of the four colonies in Indo-Pacific region with more than 1000 individuals. Hawksbill turtles in the Islands are considered an important population in the northern Indian Ocean area and are the largest in India. Hawksbill feeding grounds are reported all around Andaman and Nicobar Islands and they are the most commonly hunted turtles in these islands. All the four species are included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and listed in Appendix I of Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). But, still the original inhabitants of the Islands are exempted from the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. In Andamans, 94 islands have been notified as sanctuaries, which include 30 islands with sea turtle nesting sites. Poaching, sand mining and incidental catch are the major threats to sea turtles in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and monitoring of sea turtles in many parts of the Islands is difficult owing to remoteness and weather.