The Hindu : Mass nesting of Olive Ridleys begins at Rushikulya beach

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Mass nesting of Olive Ridleys begins at Rushikulya beach

BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 14. The much-awaited mass nesting of the endangered Olive Ridleys has commenced at the Rushikulya nesting beach, close to the Gokharkuda village on the Orissa coast.

Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) sources claimed that an estimated 21,500 Olive Ridley sea turtles crawled to the seashore to lay their eggs on a two km-stretch of beach at the Rushikulya river mouth in the late hours of March 10.

The mass nesting caught observers unaware since only four turtles had nested during the previous night, according to the WSO secretary, Biswajit Mohanty. The mass nesting continued even during the morning hours and hundreds of female turtles were seen laying their eggs upto 7 a.m.

Mr. Mohanty said during February sporadic nesting of around 1,592 turtles was reported on the beach. Till March 10 only a few turtles had nested on the beach.

He said possibly due to beach erosion, the Olive Ridleys had shifted their nesting place to about two km from the original site, which was close to the river mouth at Purunabandh village.

Experts said due to insufficient beach space, many female turtles were seen digging up the previous nests and in the process hundreds of eggs were found destroyed on the beach.

Mr. Mohanty said the casurina plantations had covered a vast stretch of the potential nesting beach area at Gokharkuda village, leaving little area for mass nesting.

These plantations, he said, were undertaken after the 1999 super cyclone, which played havoc in coastal Orissa, uprooting umpteen trees.

The WSO secretary said ``Operation Kachhapa'' launched by the society, had been urging the Forest department time and again to uproot such ill-advised plantations at Rushikulya and Devi river mouths, which had destroyed the nesting sites of the endangered turtles.

It might be recalled that mass nesting had already taken place at Nasi II island at Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, the largest rookery in the world, during the current turtle season as over one lakh sea turtles nested there from the early hours of March 2.

Mr. Mohanty said three mass nesting sites at Nasi Island in Gahirmatha, Devi river mouth and Rushikulya river mouth were reported on the Orissa coast, where thousands of turtle come for mass nesting every year.

The Rushikulya nesting beach was discovered only in 1994 by researchers from Wildlife Institute of India during turtle surveys on the Orissa coast.

Last year the forest department estimated that over 2.8 lakh turtles nested on the nesting beach and the nesting started on March 10.

Mr Mohanty said the turtles seemed to have stuck to their timetable and came to the beach to lay eggs exactly one year after their last visit.

He said the ``Operation Kachhapa'' had deployed field watchers to assist the forest department in counting the nesting turtles as well as to protect the eggs from natural predators like dogs and jackals among others.

During the current nesting, a number of turtles tagged in earlier while nesting in Gahirmatha, by researchers were found at Rushikulya beach.

An Olive Ridley, on an average, lays about 120 to 150 eggs from which hatchlings emerge after about 45-50 days. However, these eggs are subject to damage and loss due to natural predators and are also washed away in beach erosion.

Studies have indicated that only one egg out of every 1,000 eggs laid is ultimately hatched and the hatchling survives to become an adult Olive Ridley sea turtle. --UNI

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