Recent sightings of the Hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus, 1757) on the coast of Northern Andhra Pradesh, India

The coast of Northern Andhra Pradesh has predominantly rocky and sandy shores with sporadic nesting sites of olive ridley turtles Lepidochelys olivacea. However, there have been rare sightings of hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata along this coast in the past couple of decades and their nesting is seldom observed. Carcasses of two adult hawksbill turtles were observed on 29/12/2010 and 07/03/2011 along the coast of Visakhapatnam in Northern Andhra Pradesh, India. These sightings of dead hawksbill turtles along this coast come recently after a long gap of several years and emphasize on the need to carry out surveys in the area for devising effective long term conservation management strategies.