Kendrapara: Sporadic nesting of endangered Olive Ridley turtles has started at the beaches within Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. The forest personnel have spotted as many as 32 nests of the endangered sea turtles at Nasi-1, Nasi2 and Madali -2 beaches. Official sources Monday said the forest personnel have collected 3,539 endangered Olive Ridley eggs from the sporadic nesting sites within Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. The eggs were collected from a beach vulnerable to predators to hatch them at an artificial hatchery set up at Babubali. The forest personnel are optimistic that the mass nesting phenomenon of the endangered marine turtles would occur possibly after the second week of March.
Meanwhile, lakhs of Olive Ridley sea turtles were seen congregating within a kilometre distance from the sea coast near Habalikhati and Satabhaya. However, the ongoing adverse weather might pose a problem for the Olive Ridley sea turtles to come to the golden beach of Nasi -2 for mass nesting phenomenon. In case of suitable weather conditions, the sea turtles would flock en masse to lay eggs at the golden beach of Nasi -2, considered as the most favourite nesting place. Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary Ranger Pradosh Kumar Moharana is hopeful that this time too, the mass nesting might occur after March third week.