Berhampur: As Rushikulya river mouth in Odisha’s Ganjam district has emerged as a major rookery for Olive Ridley turtles, wildlife lovers and experts have demanded the establishment of a turtle research centre in the area to study the behaviour of the marine animal.
The demand in this regard was made at a meeting observing the ‘World Turtle Day’ May 23, at Purunabandh, near the river mouth. The meeting was organised by the Khallikote forest range.
“It’s high time the government take steps to expedite the proposal for setting up of turtle research centre near the rookery,” said Rabindra Nath Sahu, secretary, Rushikulya sea turtle protection committee, an organisation working on conservation and protection of the Olive Ridley turtles.
The Forest department has identified around 3.5 acres of government land near Purunabandh for the establishment of the proposed centre, sources said.
Many speakers at the meeting said that due to the active participation of local people in the protection and conservation of the endangered sea turtles, the Rushikulya river mouth has emerged as a major rookery. A record number of around nine lakh Olive ridley turtles visited the beach for mass nesting in two phases this year, they said.
While 6, 98,698 Olive Ridleys had laid eggs on the beach in their first phase of mass nesting from February 16 to 23 in the five-km stretch from Podampeta to Bateswar, over 2.05 lakh turtles had laid eggs in the same stretch in the second phase of mass nesting from March 22 to 27, said Dibya Shankar Behera, assistant conservator of forest (ACF), in-charge in Khallikote range.
He said a record number of baby Olive ridley turtles had also emerged from the pits and moved towards the sea with the help of forest staff and local volunteers.
Anil Mohapatra, a senior scientist of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) said Olive ridley turtles preferred to return to Rushikulya rookery for mass nesting due to its safety and protection.
He said around 12,000 female turtles had been tagged by the ZSI and forest department in the 2021-23 period at Rushikulya rookery to monitor their movement. “We have recaptured over 553 of them in the same site so far. This indicates that they preferred to revisit the rookery for mass nesting,” he added.
Shankar Naryan Bez, coordinator district Eco-Club lauded the community participation in the protection and conservation of Olive ridley turtles near the Rushikulya river mouth.
PTI
