Mortality of sea turtles cheloniamydas and lepidochelysolivacea due to entanglement in fishing nets, in mandapam region

The increasing anthropogenic activities, especially plastic dumping and fishing operations in the ocean have become potential threats to several marine animals including sea turtles. Directly or indirectly, turtles are reported to face mortality due to the lack of regular monitoring of coastal activities, mainly the fisheries operations. The present study documented the mortality of two sea turtles, the green turtle Cheloniamydas (Linnaeus, 1758) and olive ridley sea turtle, Lepidochelysolivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829) due to entanglement of fish nets. The infestation of epibiotic obligate commensal turtle barnacles, Chelonibiatestudina (Linnaeus, 1758) was also found on dorsoventral sides of sub-adult green turtle Cheloniamydas, while there were evidence of barnacles infestation on adult L. olivacea. We infer that effective monitoring of fishing operations, implementation of conservation awareness programs and training on rescuing turtles will protect these endangered and long-lived animals.