Rajnagar: The mass nesting of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles began on Nasi-2 island in Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, Thursday evening. Forest officials Saturday claimed that more than three lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles have laid eggs on Nasi-2 island, the favourite nesting place of the endangered species, since March 9. With DRDO prohibiting visitors, only a handful of forest personnel on turtle protection duty was at the beach to witness this unique natural phenomenon.
As many as 2,14,058 of the turtles laid eggs on the island Thursday, while 88,000 more arrived for mass nesting Friday. It has been almost a month since the marine creatures started gathering on the island but had not laid eggs due to the absence of favorable weather conditions.
Finally, the prevalence of dry weather from March 9 and the blow of the southern wind prompted them to join mass nesting. Lakhs of mother turtles climbed the beach and laid eggs on the Nasi-2 island from Thursday evening which continued till the wee hours of Saturday.
Till Saturday, over 3,02,058 turtles were estimated to have participated in the mass nesting, forest officials said. Female turtles were seen digging pits with their two hind legs and laying about 100 eggs in the pit. The size of each egg is like a ping pong ball. The eggshell being flexible does not break when the female turtles lay them in the pit. After laying the eggs, they cover the eggs in the sand and return to the sea. The hatchlings come out after 45 to 60 days of the incubation period. The turtle nests have been counted segment-wise at Nasi-2 beach, said official sources.
Forest personnel has put up 3-kilometre fencing to restrict the entry of canines into the Nasi-2 island during the mass nesting. Apart from this, steps have been taken to guard the nesting grounds to protect the turtle eggs from predators like crows and eagles. Moreover, the DRDO has switched off its bright light on its testing site at Wheeler island for the safe nesting of the turtles.
Among the nesting grounds in the state, Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is said to be the largest rookery for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle, which is protected under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and accorded the highest protection like endangered tigers. As many as 5,01,157 Olive Ridley sea turtles had come to the golden beach of Nasi-2 within Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary and laid eggs within three days from March 25 to 28 in 2022, Gahirmatha sanctuary officials said.