Conservation in India

Official estimate that more than 16,000 rare Olive Ridley turtles have been found dead on the eastern coast of India in the last year, taking the total for the decade to over 100,000 in the last decade.

Thousands of the Olive Ridley turtles come ashore each year to nest and lay eggs on the eastern coast of India. Each turtle will lay several eggs but the chances of each turtle hatchling making it to adult life is slim. The chances have been made even slimmer due to the increase of Indian fishing vessels using illegal nets which can suffocate a turtle if they’re unlucky enough to be caught in it.

Global Volunteer Projects is working with a local NGO to help protect these rare turtles. Your job will be to collect the precious eggs from nesting sites, and put them in secure incubators, protecting them from predators, both animal and human! When the eggs are ready for hatching you will take back out to their nests and monitor the hatchlings as they make their journey to the Indian Ocean.

Equally valuable work is educating the local fishing population on the use of proper nets. The turtle is revered by many of the locals as Hindu mythology recognises the turtle as a reincarnation of one of their gods, therefore it’s rare for locals to consume their meat or eggs. Often the turtles are caught in the nets by accident. You will work with local volunteers to help educate the local fishermen on different fishing nets and practices that can help reduce the number of turtles accidentally.

This project starts in January 2008. If you are keen to join a project before then, why not have a look at our conservation projects in Ghana.