The Hindu 18.01.2010
Clean-up of beachfront taken up
Staff Reporter
| Effort to make it safer for Olive Ridley turtles during nesting season |
— File Photo 
A sea turtle laying its eggs on the beach in Neelankarai.
CHENNAI: In an effort to make the beach safer for Olive Ridley turtles during the nesting season, a clean-up of the beachfront along the Theosophical Society near the broken bridge was undertaken here on Sunday by college students, conservationists and residents.
“We have a duty to keep the beaches clean and safe for the turtles,” said Akila Balu of the Students Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN). “They have been nesting along these coasts for thousands of years. Just 20 years ago, we used to find 100 nesting sites per kilometre. Now it has come down to 10 per kilometre.”
Turtles usually nest and hatch between January and May.
Gravid mother turtles need to dig deep holes to lay eggs, and trash acts as a big hindrance.
“Apart from those who litter on the beach, a lot of garbage also comes from the Adyar river which gets deposited on the coast by the sea,” said Nithyanand Jayaraman, an environmental activist.
“The turtles cannot dig through the garbage to deposit their eggs.”
He added that clean-ups organised by the Chennai Corporation are deficient and community-driven efforts are meant to evolve a model to do it differently.
Two months ago, morning walkers who use the Elliots beach initiated a clean-up with the help of the Chennai Corporation but most of the garbage was left behind in plastic bags at the beach which subsequently got buried in sand.
A significant part of the close to six tonnes of garbage collected on Sunday was plastic bags containing trash.
Archanaa Seker, a volunteer, said: “Everyone loves to come to the beach but no one takes care of it. Clean-ups like this are meant to show what the young can do.”
This is the first in a series of clean-ups that have been planned on the stretch from broken bridge to the Governor’s bungalow in Besant Nagar. Republic Day will be celebrated through a community clean-up of the Urur-Olcott Kuppam beach.
On January 30, a massive voluntary clean-up of Elliots beach, in which anyone is welcome to participate, is being organised.
The trash gathered on that day will be used to build a garbage sculpture at the beach to show everyone what we have been doing to our beaches.
