Safeguarding Olive Ridleys on the South Kerala Coast

As the sun sets on Thottappally Beach near Alappuzha in Kerala, a small crowd gathers and starts walking towards the shoreline. The group is diverse — people of all ages, including a few super-excited children. Leading them is Saji Jayamohan, carrying a blue ice box.

Saji has done this dozens of times, but that hasn’t curbed his enthusiasm. He is about to release a bunch of olive ridley turtle hatchlings into the sea. The onlookers have assembled to witness the event.

Once released onto the sand, the 40 baby turtles waste no time. They scamper towards the water, tiny legs flapping rhythmically, and then disappear into the sea. As the gathering disperses, Saji takes one last look at the waves with contentment. Another day, another set of turtles has a chance at survival, and another milestone for Saji and his environmental collective, Greenroots.

 

Early Steps

Owing to its proximity to the highway and just 22 km away from Alappuzha town, Thottappally has become a favourite beach spot since at least 2015. Thottappally is ecologically significant, as it is one of the few beaches in Alappuzha that serves as a sea turtle nesting site.

Saji, a native of Thottappally, went from having no knowledge about turtles to becoming a turtle conservationist. He said, “I became interested in turtles quite accidentally. Many years ago, I was a young photographer trying to build a name in the field. One day, a friend told me about a big turtle that had washed ashore on Thottappally Beach. My friends and I were concerned that if the turtle remained on the beach any longer, local people might kill it for meat. With the help of a fisher friend, I took the turtle out into the ocean and released it. This was my first turtle conservation act.”

In 2012, Saji and a few others from Thottappally, who were interested in environment and wildlife conservation, started and registered the environmental NGO, Greenroots. Back then, sea turtle conservation hadn’t been officially taken up by the Wildlife Department in Alappuzha. The group started with a “turtle watch”.

At the time, turtle meat was a delicacy in the region, and despite a government ban, it was sold in toddy shops. Myths and misconceptions about the extraordinary properties of turtle eggs and meat prevailed. Greenroots’ first step was to promote scientific education in the community and instil the desire to protect turtles. In 2025, Greenroots remains the only collective dedicated to turtle conservation in Alappuzha.

Olive Ridleys: Habits and Habitats

Al Badush, a founder-member of Greenroots and a researcher on sea turtle ecology, tells me Kerala’s sea turtle population is mostly olive ridleys. Most sea turtle studies in India have focused on their nesting habits and habitats, and there’s comparatively less information on their behaviour in water, he notes. “Broadly, we can classify sea turtle nesting into three main categories: mass nesting sites, with thousands of turtles, moderate nesting sites of a hundred to a thousand, and sporadic nesting sites, as witnessed in Thottappally, with less than a hundred turtles.”

Sea turtles tend to return to the same beach where they once hatched and took their first steps,” he says. It’s more of a curse for them, he adds, because the gradual erasure of this coast also means that a turtle will feel lost while seeking a nesting ground.

A batch of eggs takes around 45 days to hatch, Saji says. From the day the turtle lays the eggs, Saji and his group move them and observe them in their hatchery, located right next to Thottappally Beach. Once the eggs hatch, they release the hatchlings into the ocean as soon as possible — usually early morning the next day.

Coastal Erosion and Other Threats to Turtles’ Habitat and Existence

The gradual loss of Alappuzha’s coast has sharply reduced available nesting habitats and Saji is concerned. Already, turtles no longer visit once-popular nesting beaches like Mararikulam and Cherthala in Alappuzha (at least since 2015). Thottappally is one stretch of coastline where turtles still nest; the next known site is around 17 km away.

For Alappuzha specifically, coastal sand mining has been the key factor behind this phenomenon of enhanced coastal erosion. Black sand mining from the district’s beaches since the 1990s has caused the coast to shrink at an alarming rate. “Three years ago, I collected eggs laid by nearly a dozen turtles along this beach. But now, there’s hardly any beach left to lay eggs,” Saji says.

Suresh Kumar, a retired teacher and activist from Alappuzha, has been a vocal advocate of resisting the coastal sand mining in the region. He is chairman of the collective Karimanal Khanana Virudha Ekopana Samithi (KKVES), formed to fight unregulated coastal sand mining in the district. Despite their best efforts, large-scale sand mining has continued in Alappuzha and neighbouring Kollam district over the years, Suresh says. Even so, human intervention and community engagement are integral in places like Kerala, where small-scale nesting habitats for turtles exist.

Climate change has also adversely affected the turtles, Saji tells me. Erratic rainfall has been an issue in Kerala in this century. Turtles have also been affected by the rise in dumping of waste (especially plastic) in the ocean. Unregulated fishing practices in Kerala and across India have also led to a rise in sea turtle mortality rates, with turtles often trapped in fishing nets or killed by boat propellers.

Miles to Go

Saji noted sadly that the batch that hatched while I was visiting showed low hatching success — of 100 eggs collected, only 40 hatched. However, earlier in 2025, nearly 98 turtles had hatched and been released from 120 eggs collected.

The forest and wildlife departments in Kerala have been encouraging turtle conservation efforts since 2024 through small remunerative schemes. Greenroots receives a watcher allowance from the Forest Department, and in 2024, received a small government fund for building a portable hatchery that can be moved to different sites where eggs are laid.

In all his years of turtle conservation, Saji’s most memorable experience was witnessing the “arribada” phenomenon (the mass nesting of olive ridley turtles) at Rushikulya beach in Odisha. “I had never seen something as remarkable as that before!” he recalls. “Thousands of turtles waddling to the beach to lay eggs, and tens of thousands of baby turtles hatching and taking their first steps into the ocean.”

Saji and Greenroots have helped hatch over 5,000 turtles since 2012. Each year, they assist with 10-12 nests. Local communities in Thottappally, including fishers, have also helped turtle conservation efforts since Greenroots’ inception. The portable hatchery now helps turtle eggs laid on other beaches in Alappuzha.

Senior Greenroots members mentor younger volunteers to carry their turtle conservation efforts into the future. For Saji, turtles have become an indispensable part of his life — an extension of his family. “Certain things bind us to our land,” he tells me. “For me, turtles have been one such emotion. Over the years, I have often contemplated leaving this place for better job opportunities. But I don’t think my life will be complete without taking care of these turtles.”