BERHAMPUR: Mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles started at the Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam district of Orissa from Thursday midnight.On the first night over 20,000 mother turtles travelled up to the sandy beach to lay their eggs, said Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), A.K.Jena, who is monitoring the mass nesting process. These turtles laid their eggs in a stretch of around four kilometres of beach from Purunabandha to Podampeta. They came out on to the beach in the darkness to dig up holes in sand with their flippers and laid their eggs in them. Then they covered them up with sand before escaping into the sea. More than a hundred eggs were laid into every nest. According to Mr Jena mass nesting process is expected to continue for around a week. Sporadic nesting of Olive Ridleys had started at this coast few days back. A team from Indian Science Center, Bangaluru led by scientist Kartik Shankar is also at Rushikulya rookery for study of these endangered reptiles during the nesting process.The entire stretch of four kilometres of beach has been divided into 40 segments. Each segment is being monitored by a forest official along with a daily wager appointed by the forest department. They also serve as sampling points for record data regarding nesting process. Local villagers are also playing a major role in the protection of these turtles. Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee (RSTPC) had been formed at Purunabandha village istaking the lead in these efforts.
Source: The Hindu
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For quite sometime, issues have been unnecessarily created about the Dhamra Port construction and related dredging activities near the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. The beaches of Gahirmatha have been the favourite haunt for marine turtles in India and the fact is that, the upcoming port has not changed the pattern of nature in any way or affected the mass nesting of vulnerable Olive Ridley Turtles. Since 2009, the turtles have returned to their favourite nesting beach on a regular basis and en masse. Year 2009 saw 1.7 lakh Olive Ridley Sea Turtles making their annual journey to the Gahirmatha Turtle Sanctuary in Orissa. In 2010, the mass-nesting turtles returned twice with the figures rising to a record 3.57 lakh, as per Marine Turtle Specialists. Even 2011 was no exception to the rule. Hence it can be concluded that Nature has awarded DPCL for diligently following the safety practices in Dhamra port.
ReplyDeleteI think there will be problem after the port is completed . Heavy ships with big drafts will arrive. There will be regular oil spill. This will definitely affect turtles. You can take similar cases that happened in confluence of Hoogly river. The marine life is in greatly geopardy due to rapid industrialisation.
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