Chennai: Paying homage to Olive Ridley turtles that washed ashore dead last year, members of TREE Foundation created a sand sculpture of the turtle in Neelankarai beach, on Thursday. More than 500 members of Sea Turtle Protection Force of TREE Foundation participated in the event. “The sand sculptor was created close to the spot where many dead turtles had washed ashore,” the volunteers said. During the event, members of the NGO remembered 824 turtles that died to trawl boats at Pennar Estuary in 2014. “It seems that no lessons have been learnt from the 2014 tragedy as around 150 turtles were washed ashore on the same beach in Pennar Estuary,” the NGO said.
According to Marine Fisheries Regulation Act, the trawl boats should only be fishing beyond 5 km from Tamil Nadu shore and 8 km from Andhra Pradesh shore, members said.
