Sea turtles of India - need for a crash programme on conservation and effective management of the resource

Abstract

Great interest is now focussed on the study of sea turtle resources in our Exclusive Economic Zone to develop proper conservation and management measures. we have reports, particularly along south Tamil Nadu and Kerala Coast about turtle poisoning mainly caused by eating the meat of the hawksbill Eretmochelys imbricata during certain seasons. All these point to the need for developing a good monitoring system for understanding the resource, advancing our knowledge on the biology, life history and behaviour of turtles and utilising the information for developing proper management strategies. It is hoped that this publication will help to accelerate Research and Development programmes on sea turtles and assist in the collection of information for different studies to help and evolve conservation and management strategies for our sea turtles. It is with this view that at the recent National Workshop on the Acquisition and Dissemination of Data on Marine Living resources of Indian Seas, an important recommendation was made on the need for collecting data on endangered and rare marine species such as turtles and Cetaceans.