After getting to Chennai last week, we geared up very excitedly to walk the Neelankarai beach. We were going to participate in a turtle walk organized by a student group called the Students' Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN). It is a voluntary group working on the beaches of Chennai since 1987, trying to conserve and create awareness about the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle.
We had a cup of tea at 10:30 p.m. hoping earnestly that it will help us stay awake all night. When we reached the beach we were happy to find a lot of young people there for the walk. Since there were about fifty of us, the volunteers split us in to two smaller groups and started their introductory talk. One of the things they said that I found astonishing was that turtles have been around for 120 million years! They have been around since when dinosaurs were here on the planet! These creatures must be masters at adapting to the changes in their environment. And yet for the last three decades, this student network has been trying to conserve the sea turtles. How did these incredible survivors, in the long history of evolution, get to the brink of extinction?
Over the course of the introductory talk, we learned about the unfortunate situation of these sea turtles. The female turtles lay their eggs in sub-surface nests on oceanic beaches. When these eggs hatch, the hatchlings move in the direction of the brightest light in their quest to find the sea. Until modern times this was light of celestial bodies reflected off the sea. Now, without conservation efforts, the hatchlings would walk away from the sea towards bright human settlements, only to perish soon after beginning their lives. Our well lit "safe" beaches are quite unsafe for these ancient beings.
When I looked up the internet on this subject, I found these images released by NASA that indicate a significant increase in India's night lights. The latest image below is of 2016's:
Now compare this to that of 2012.
If you are curious about the global picture, here it is.
Light pollution or losing the dark is a serious, pressing problem and probably the least talked about of pollution issues. This is a relatively new phenomenon, just decades old in India. Animals (including humans), birds, insects, indeed most of life hasn't evolved to deal with light after sunset. And for some, like the turtles, it is a matter of life or death, of survival or extinction. Here is some good information about light pollution.
We had a cup of tea at 10:30 p.m. hoping earnestly that it will help us stay awake all night. When we reached the beach we were happy to find a lot of young people there for the walk. Since there were about fifty of us, the volunteers split us in to two smaller groups and started their introductory talk. One of the things they said that I found astonishing was that turtles have been around for 120 million years! They have been around since when dinosaurs were here on the planet! These creatures must be masters at adapting to the changes in their environment. And yet for the last three decades, this student network has been trying to conserve the sea turtles. How did these incredible survivors, in the long history of evolution, get to the brink of extinction?
Over the course of the introductory talk, we learned about the unfortunate situation of these sea turtles. The female turtles lay their eggs in sub-surface nests on oceanic beaches. When these eggs hatch, the hatchlings move in the direction of the brightest light in their quest to find the sea. Until modern times this was light of celestial bodies reflected off the sea. Now, without conservation efforts, the hatchlings would walk away from the sea towards bright human settlements, only to perish soon after beginning their lives. Our well lit "safe" beaches are quite unsafe for these ancient beings.
When I looked up the internet on this subject, I found these images released by NASA that indicate a significant increase in India's night lights. The latest image below is of 2016's:
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| India''s Night Lights - 2016 |
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| India's Night Lights - 2012 |
Light pollution or losing the dark is a serious, pressing problem and probably the least talked about of pollution issues. This is a relatively new phenomenon, just decades old in India. Animals (including humans), birds, insects, indeed most of life hasn't evolved to deal with light after sunset. And for some, like the turtles, it is a matter of life or death, of survival or extinction. Here is some good information about light pollution.
Back to the Turtle Walk.
We started the walk after midnight. A group of people from the forest department (!) had set out an hour earlier to scout for a fresh nest. Not all walks come upon a nest, but we hoped ours will. In the meanwhile we found a big Olive Ridley female. Washed ashore dead, thanks to trawling. I touched her shell, wondering how a creature encased in such impregnable armour was still so vulnerable to human activity. This morbid find had affected the group's spirits and it weighed on us for the next half hour.
This changed when we saw a signal from the forest scouts. We rushed to the spot where the scouts had located a potential nest. This called for some hand digging, which a volunteer started carefully. He said that these sub-surface nests have a short narrow neck and a round cavity underneath. Once he got to the cavity, he gingerly scooped out a white object, the size of a ping-pong ball and passed it to the group. It was warm to touch, the shell still not hardened. Likely laid less than a hour ago! The volunteer kept reaching in and bringing out more eggs while we were counting and bagging these precious little parcels. After a ten minute operation, we had 124 eggs in our bag! One hundred and twenty four! How did that mother manage to walk up the beach with so many eggs, dig out a beautiful nest, lay them all and then finally clean up the site to not leave a trace? Truly magical.
We took a break around three in the morning. It was absolutely wonderful to lay down on the beach and doze off while listening to the waves. We woke up refreshed and ready for the last leg of the adventure. When we continued our walk, the conversation got around to eco-systems, their fragility and the fast rate at which they are disappearing due to Climate Change. Many of us walked in silence while digesting these hard realities. After an hour-long walk, the eggs were taken to a hatchery. There are many hatcheries on this beach between Neelankarai and Adyar. These are simple enclosures built with bamboo posts and woven coconut fronds. The eggs will hatch here in about two months and the hatchlings will be released into the sea.
-- Hema
We took a break around three in the morning. It was absolutely wonderful to lay down on the beach and doze off while listening to the waves. We woke up refreshed and ready for the last leg of the adventure. When we continued our walk, the conversation got around to eco-systems, their fragility and the fast rate at which they are disappearing due to Climate Change. Many of us walked in silence while digesting these hard realities. After an hour-long walk, the eggs were taken to a hatchery. There are many hatcheries on this beach between Neelankarai and Adyar. These are simple enclosures built with bamboo posts and woven coconut fronds. The eggs will hatch here in about two months and the hatchlings will be released into the sea.
-- Hema
