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Hatching of Olive Ridleys continues

KANTIAGADA (GANJAM DIST): Hatching of Olive Ridley eggs continues at the Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam district but a long portion of the nets which prevent hatchlings from straying towards the land have been removed.

On Wednesday morning a stretch of nets over a stretch of 1 km could not be seen on the coast line. But hatching of eggs in Olive Ridley nests in the area continued. So, several hatchlings which had strayed could be located inside the cashew jungle near the coast. The net could have prevented the hatchlings from straying towards the land. The locals said this portion of the net was removed four days ago. The WWF camp that was put up in this region had also vanished. This stretch of net was put up by the WWF who removed the nets much before end of hatchling of turtle eggs on the coast. But the nets put by the forest department in other regions of the over 4-km stretch of the beach near the Rushikulya rookery where the Olive Ridleys had nested still remained in place. As per forest officials they had taken help of the WWF to put protective nets on a stretch of 10 segments on the beach. The strong net put by WWF in last week of March on a stretch of over one km was aimed at saving the turtle nests from predators like dogs and foxes.

But local fishermen involved in turtle protection said if the WWF wanted to save the nests then they should have put nets on the whole nesting beach rather than a portion of it. The predators can easily take diversion and avoid WWF net to reach the nests. They also added that the WWF nets were put much near the sea line and there were several nests behind the net. The eggs of nests behind the net and the hatchlings coming out of them became easy prey of predators.

The Forest Department put walls of mosquito nets on the rest of the stretch during the hatching period to check straying of hatchlings.

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