The Olive Ridley turtles, an endangered species which had skipped the River Rushikulya mouth in Odisha’s Ganjam district in 2024 for the mass nesting, are expected to lay eggs in larger numbers this year, according to the turtle experts.
Rushikulya river mouth is one of the major rookeries in the country, where millions of female Olive Ridley turtles throng for mass nesting (arribada in Spanish). The other sites in Odisha, where mass nesting of the Olive Ridleys take place are Gahirmatha and Deve river mouth in Kendrapara and Puri districts, respectively.
Experts, however, pointed out that it is a natural pattern to skip a rookery every three or four years. “We have observed the trend for the last several years that a large number of Olive Ridley turtles turned up for the nesting in the subsequent year since the absence of mass nesting. It’s not only observed in the Rushikulya river mouth, but also in Gahirmatha,” said Basudev Tripathy, a senior scientist in Zoological Survey of India’s (ZSI) Western Regional Center, Pune.
“A good number of pairs of Olive Ridleys in mating conditions are visible on the Bay of Bengal water surface near the river mouth due to the favourable climatic condition so far. If this climate prevails for some more days, more Olive Ridleys are likely to lay eggs on the beach this year,” said Bivash Pandav, a senior professor, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
“In some years, they did not turn up to mass nesting even though a huge number congregated in the sea,” said Pandav.
The mass nesting in the river mouth was missed in 2002, 2007, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2024, experts said.
In 2023, however, a record number of mass nesting in the beach. Over 637,000 turtles had laid eggs in the three kilometre stretch from Podampeta to Bateshwar near the river mouth during the eight-day mass nesting period from February 23 to March 3, 2023, according to official sources.
Rabindra Nath Sahu, secretary of Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee, said the mass nesting was expected to take place at its usual time, in the third week of February. “During our visit to the sea, we have seen several pairs of the Olive Ridley turtles are still in the sea,” he said.
“There was no erosion in the beach as River Rushikulya didn't flood this year. Moreover, a new sandbar of 1.5 km long has emerged this time near the river mouth. This will help the Olive Ridley turtles to get more space for the nesting,” said Sahu.
“The beach has been well-prepared this time debris removed. The cleaning drive was launched from November 1, 2024 and is continuing,” said Sunny Khokkar, divisional forest officer, Berhampur. The mass nesting site was corralled with green fencing to keep the place undisturbed from movement of people, said Khokkar.
Forest staff, personnel from coast guard, marine police and marine fishery departments were patrolling in the sea jointly to prevent the fishing, he added. The government has banned fishing within 20 km from the nesting site on the coast from November 1 to May 31, when the turtles congregate.
ZSI in collaboration with the environment, forest and climate change department of Odisha government, had tagged around 15,000 turtles for three years since 2021. It has decided to monitor their visit this year. “We have recaptured some of the tagged turtles in the river mouth during their mating period,” said Tripathy.
Tripathy said there was a need to tag the turtles that visit the Odisha coast for a longer period to understand their life cycle, behaviour, trekking, nesting, among other things. “The Odisha government needs to formulate a long-term plan for the purpose in collaboration with the ZSI and central government,” he said.