The moon shimmers over the Mt. Lavinia beach. Music from nearby restaurants can be heard like a symphony over the gentle waves sweeping along the sandy beach. Cast in moonlight, a sea turtle emerges from the ocean’s depths.
It is a magical sight to behold, as she makes her way up the beach to find a suitable spot to nest. Time seems to slow down as she moves leaving a tire-track like trail. To the untrained eye, this trail may be lost in the sea of footprints that pepper the seashore.
Almost a decade later, she’s reached the same beach she was born in and took her first steps as a hatchling to reach the ocean beckoned by the glow of the moonlight dancing off the waves. Now as a mother, she begins nesting, digging into the sand using her back flippers as shovels. But for this particular female, fate seemingly has forsaken her. She’s missing one of her back flippers making her task an impossible feat. She will be exhausted before long. Miraculously it may seem, she manages to dig her nest at the same pace as if it were a turtle with both flippers. Little does she know that her digging is aided by a human hand.
Volunteers before heading out to the beach for patrolling
The next stage of the magic begins as she ascends into a trance and begins to “cry” as legend has it to mourn parting with her babies never to see them grow up. She spends almost another 30 minutes laying eggs and when it’s done, she begins to cover the nest. Covering the nest is understating what she does, she creates a sand fountain ensuring that predators are unlikely to discover her treasure. Once she is content hiding her valuable cargo, she steadily makes her way back to the water. She may be slower than when she ascended from the ocean, but once her flippers hit the water, she vanishes beneath the dark shadows of the waves.
Ex-situ conservation
On the beach, the Turtle Patrollers have sprung into action. While the turtle nests, volunteers alert the coastguard and aid the female to dig her nest. Once the female lays her eggs while dispelling the excess salt from her body through her eyes giving the illusion of her crying and returns to the ocean, the coastguard excavates the eggs from the nest marked by the patrollers securing them for ex-situ conservation. For the Turtle Patrollers, this is just the beginning of a long night ahead.
Global initiatives such as the Marine Turtle Conservation Act and partnerships between organisations like WWF and IUCN promote international collaboration to protect sea turtles. Protected areas, ecotourism programs, and community education play a key role. Advances in tracking technology help monitor migration patterns, enabling targeted conservation strategies. Campaigns against illegal trade and programs for rehabilitating injured turtles further contribute to safeguarding these ancient creatures for future generations. Organisations such as the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) of Sri Lanka collaborate with local communities to reduce egg poaching and promote sustainable practices.
Sri Lanka’s sandy beaches are critical nesting grounds for five of the seven sea turtle species, including the green, leatherback, and olive ridley turtles. Conservation efforts in the country focus on protecting nesting sites and raising community awareness. Laws prohibiting the capture or harm of sea turtles are enforced alongside community-driven initiatives to combat threats like plastic pollution and by catch. Ecotourism also provides a sustainable funding source for conservation efforts.
The Turtle Patrollers are a group of volunteers from all ages and various backgrounds who have come together to conserve the turtle population of Sri Lanka along the Mt Lavinia and Dehiwala beaches. They are part of the Pearl Protectors who are a non-profit initiative born out of a concept of Muditha Katuwawala.
“The Pearl Protectors began in 2018 as a platform to create awareness on marine pollution. Today, Pearl Protectors is one of the largest volunteer platforms, housing 3,500 volunteers who tirelessly work towards making a change in the oceans surrounding our Island home. Our main objective is making people ocean-minded so that they take care of our oceans. Keeping this in mind, we put together volunteer activities, conservation efforts, collaborations and research activities,” he said.
Patrollers watch over a sea
turtle nesting
Turtle Patrolling is one such initiative. Despite the coastguard having a minor conservation effort in place to conserve sea turtle nests, most of the nests were being poached.
In March 2022, the turtle patrolling initiative was launched. But unfortunately, the patrollers had started too late into the season and weren’t able to conserve many nests that year. After planning for the following year’s nesting season, the patrollers, over the course of 55 days with the help of 60 volunteers, were able to conserve 7944 eggs and 72 turtles from being harmed or disturbed. This year, over the course of a month, 6000+ eggs and 61 turtles have been protected with the help of approximately 140 volunteers.
Patrollers who sign up are required to attend an online briefing, complete an online module and finally attend a physical briefing giving a rundown of turtle patrolling. Patrolling typically happens from 10 pm – 2 am. However, if more turtles seem to nest, patrolling could even extend till 4am. Patrollers pace the length of the beach keeping an eye out not just for turtles but also hatchlings who may need assistance finding their way back to the ocean as sometimes they confuse the lights from the restaurants along the beach to be the moonlit horizon, guiding them to the sea.
When a nesting turtle is located, the patrollers alert the coastguard who follows through with the necessary steps of ex-situ conservation. Once the eggs are secured, the nesting site and turtle tracks are covered up to ensure poachers are unable to locate the site as the female typically returns to the same beach more than once to nest putting her at risk if her tracks remain visible. Patrollers cover around 3-5km every night, trekking the beaches which are divided into separate patrolling zones to maximise coverage. This routine is followed from January-March during peak turtle nesting season.
The main reason behind turtle egg consumption is due to the myth that turtle eggs are exceptionally nutritious thus creating an artificial demand for turtle eggs. There is a huge demand for turtle eggs in the local market, followed by the hotel industry selling eggs to tourists, and finally foreign workers in Colombo and some people in the South consuming eggs.
“Dehiwala had no nests when patrolling started due to poaching. The post-Covid-19 and economic crisis ridden country had resulted in people freely poaching the nests due to the areas being deserted. Beyond Mt Lavinia hotel, the situation towards Angulana and Ratmalana remains the same, but Dehiwala and Mt Lavinia have seen a huge positive change thanks to Turtle Patrolling,” Muditha said.
To Sri Lanka, the sea turtle is a charismatic animal crucial to coastal ecosystems. Another little-known fact is that Colombo is the only capital city in the world that caters to sea turtles nesting on its beaches. Five out of seven species of sea turtles visit our beaches to nest. Hatchlings are especially vulnerable, and their fatality rates are very high. So, the need for conservation is not a desire but a necessity. Killing sea turtles and poaching eggs are a massive tribulation to conservation efforts.
Widely known as a solution to turtle conservation, hatcheries operated in Sri Lanka are detrimental. In fact, marine turtles are protected by the Flora and Fauna Act of 1972 which renders hatcheries illegal in the eyes of the law. However, they continue to operate due to the revenue generated by eco-tourism.
Hatchlings returning to the sea
The authorities should bring forth stricter laws enforcing practices that prioritise sea turtle conservation. Founder of Pearl Protectors Muditha compares hatcheries to isolating a newborn from society, adding that they do not benefit the turtles in the long term.
Efforts to combat poaching have gained ground in local communities, where attitudes are shifting. Initially, some villagers resisted conservation efforts, either due to generational habits or economic incentives. However, as young people have joined the cause, attitudes have shifted, and even former poachers have become advocates for turtle protection. Fishermen now report nesting turtles, aiding patrollers in their conservation efforts.
At first, the local community was sceptical of the Turtle Patrollers, particularly in fishing villages where turtle egg poaching had long been a tradition. There were those who were curious, those who were hesitant, and those who resisted, often due to the economic value of the eggs or generational practices. However, over time, the community has recognised the importance of preserving these species, and many now see the beaches as conservation areas.
Efforts to educate the community and enforce stricter conservation laws have made a significant impact. As young people increasingly engage in conservation efforts, local attitudes have shifted, and there is greater support for protecting turtle nests. Fishermen, once part of the resistance, are now active in alerting patrollers to nesting turtles, showing how deeply the culture has changed.
Despite the massive shift in sentiment among the locals, a nest remains at risk of being poached if the patrollers happen to miss it.
Monitoring and data collection
“At the end of the day, we don’t want to see turtle patrolling. Because if people don’t poach the eggs, we don’t need to be there”, Muditha said. The ideal future for turtle patrolling is to shift towards monitoring and data collection, establishing a comprehensive database of nesting sites and patterns. This data will not only support conservation efforts but also provide valuable insights into sea turtle populations and migration.
Community engagement is also crucial. There will be more community engagement towards this initiative, creating a supportive environment for volunteers. Hopefully, more in-situ conservation measures can be implemented allowing nests to be in their natural habitats depending on the nest location.
Muditha extends an invitation to those passionate about the environment and ocean conservation to become turtle patrollers. This opportunity offers not only a chance to contribute to a worthy cause but also to develop life skills such as perseverance and teamwork. Turtle patrolling is open to people of all ages, and those who are unable to patrol can still contribute through various other initiatives.
By joining Pearl Protectors or similar organisations, people can be part of a movement to protect both marine and land-dwelling creatures, ensuring that future generations can experience firsthand the wonders of mother nature.
At the end of the day, consistency is key, and community engagement needs to rely on consistency. Make giving back a regular habit, in whatever ways possible, no matter how big or small of an impact an act can create.
