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Marine Turtle Newsletter 11:3-4, © 1979

Preliminary Report on Sea Turtles in the Gulf of Kutch

S. Bhaskar
Field Officer, c/o Madras Snake Park, Guindy Deer Park, Madras 600022, South India

The Gulf of Kutch is a shallow arm of the eastern Arabian Sea and separates the peninsula of Saurashtra from Kutch in western India. Situated in the Gulf are about 15 islands, 1-20 kms off the northern coast of Saurashtra. The well known turtle nesting area at Hawke's Bay in Pakistan lies about 250 kms to the north-west.

Bhaidar Island (Lat. 22° 28'N, Long. 69° 18'E) is one of thirteen uninhabited islands and constitutes a focal nesting area for the Olive Ridley in the Gulf. Sand dunes 15 ft high (the most elevated among the Gulf's sandy-beach islands) occur along a 2 km long nesting beach on the island's western side. Numerous turtle egg shells lay scattered over large stretches of this beach when a survey visit was made to the island on 15 and 16 June '78. Their size suggested Ridley eggs; hawksbill and loggerhead turtles, which may lay eggs of roughly the same size have not, to date, been reported from the Gulf of Kutch. The only animals capable of excavating turtle eggs on Bhaidar island would appear to be wild cats. On inhabited Beyt Island, jackals, dogs and humans number among turtle nest predators. Nests on the mainland shores of Gulf of Kutch, in addition, are probably preyed upon by wild pig and monitor lizards.

About 20 body pits made by nesting green turtles were also found on Bhaidar Island. None appeared to have been made within the preceding two months. The Olive Ridley and the green turtle are the only species commonly occurring in the Gulf of Kutch. The nesting season for either species could not be ascertained though it is sometimes quoted as extending from late June through August (which are the months of the southwest monsoon). The leatherback is said to be sighted at sea on rare occasions.

On each of 2 nights spent on Bhaidar Island, 3 Olive Ridleys came ashore to nest, all near the time of high water. In the light of the abundance of turtle egg shells on Bhaidar's nesting beach, the sparse nesting that occurred during my visit there may be attributable to the prevalence of neap tides.

Visiting fishermen from Salaya on the Saurashtra coast who staked a net across a tidal creek at Bhaidar at high tide captured 3 adult green turtle females on the night of 16-17 June 1978. All were released unharmed, turtle meat being rarely consumed locally. A few turtles are killed for their fat (used to protect boat timbers against infestation by shipworms and as a sealant). On occasion, a captured turtle's flippers may be hacked off and the salted flipper-hides converted into rough shoes. Fishermen use these as protection against jagged sub-littoral coral that fringes many islands in the Gulf.

Turtle eggs are diligently searched for and excavated for human consumption on Beyt Island and on the mainland shores of the Gulf of Kutch. Fishermen of the Wagir community are the main gatherers and consumers of turtle eggs. During periods of nesting abundance, turtle eggs are reportedly sold illegally in fish markets at Okha, Mithapur, and Dwarka at 25 paise (about 3¢ US) each. None was on sale on the occasions I visited these markets in June and early July though nests were undoubtedly being raided by humans during this period. Near Mandvi on the southern coast of Kutch I counted 4 day-old Ridley nests on a 6 mile stretch of beach on 6 July, a period of spring tides. Of these nests, 3 had been raided by jackals and one by humans. Wild pig tracks were also evident on the open beach about 30 m from the vegetation cover (primarily Acacia).

Fishermen state that turtles of many sizes frequent the area. A green turtle skull 20" long was found. The largest of the 3 green turtles caught on Bhaidar had a shell measuring 94 cm in length and 85 cm in breadth (over curves). Two Ridley shells measured 71 and 74 cm in length. Off Karumbhar Island, I counted 11 turtles from a fishing sailboat as they surfaced for air at intervals. No mating was observed.

The "totally protected" legal status of Indian sea turtles is widely known among the coastal inhabitants of the Gulf of Kutch. By their own accounts, turtle nesting has decreased drastically over the years in many areas (e.g. Karumbhar and Pirotan Islands). Rampant egg collection is evidently the prime cause but the indiscriminate mining of beach sand for construction purposes hastens the decline. Once-elevated sandy beaches on islands like Deeds and Muada have over the last decades been "mined" down to spring high water level making nesting by sea turtles on the exposed water-logged silt impossible. Between sand and coral mining India stands to lose its two mainland reefs and associated marine life, including the turtles.