Berhampur: The second phase of mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles began in the Rushikulya river mouth in Odisha’s Ganjam district Saturday, officials said.
The unique phenomena of these endangered sea species were witnessed after a gap of seven years in the Rushikulya rookery, they said.
A total of 38,779 turtles laid eggs in the stretch of the rookery from Purunabandh to Bateswar, on the first day of the second phase of the mass nesting, said assistant conservator of forest (ACF), in-charge of Khallikote range, Dibya Shankar Behera.
Experts are expecting the mass nesting of the turtles will continue for the next few days, as a large number of the Olive Ridley turtles are still in the sea and trying to climb onto the beach to lay eggs.
“We are expecting the mass nesting to continue for some more days in the second phase,” said Anil Mohapatra, a senior scientist of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)’s regional centre, Gopalpur.
A record number of 6,98,718 Olive Ridley turtles had laid eggs on the sandy beach in the first phase of their mass nesting from February 16 to 23 in the Rushikulya rookery.
Though the mass hatchling was yet to occur, sporadic hatchlings have started on the beach for the last few days. Generally, the hatchlings will emerge from the shells after 45 to 50 days of laying eggs, turtle experts said.
The second phase of mass nesting was earlier recorded in the rookery in 2018. Over 37,000 turtles had laid eggs in the second phase of the nesting held from April 20 to 27, 2018. Around 4.50 lakh turtles had laid eggs in the first phase of mas nesting held from February 21 to 28 of the same year, sources said.
Rabindra Nath Sahu, president Ganjam district sea turtle protection committee said the second phase of mass nesting occurred several times in Rushikulya rookery and Gahirmatha, one of the largest rookeries for Olive Ridley turtles.
The assistant conservator of forest said they have ramped up the protection measures of the eggs following the second phase of mass nesting in the rookery. “We have deployed 20 more staff to guard the turtles which came to lay eggs,” said Behera.
Earlier, they had deployed 180 personnel, including the local volunteers to guard the eggs, he said.
“As experts have predicted the mass nesting would continue for some more days in the second phase, accordingly, we have prepared,” he added.
PTI
