Record 6.41 lakh Olive Ridleys lay eggs at Odisha’s Rushikulya rookery this year

BHUBANESWAR: A staggering 6.41 lakh Olive Ridley turtles have laid eggs at Rushikulya rookery so far in the current nesting season setting a record for the mass breeding site along Ganjam coast.

PCCF Wildlife Prem Kumar Jha said Rushikulya had never seen such large congregation of the endangered species, at least in the last decade. The previous highest nesting of 6.37 lakh Olive Ridleys had been recorded in 2022-23 season while there was no mass nesting at the site in 2023-24.

“Unlike Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, the world’s largest rookery for the Olive Ridleys, arribada of the sea turtles has not been regular at Rushikulya. As turtles are continuing to turn up, we expect the congregation to go beyond 7 lakh. If this happens, it will set another new record,” Jha told TNIE.

As per the forest department data, Olive Ridleys have skipped mass nesting at Rushikulya at least four times – in 2015-16, 2018-19, 2020-21 and 2023-24- over the past decade. They don’t turn up for nesting if the environment is not conducive to lay eggs.

“Despite protection measures, no mass nesting took place at the site last year primarily due to erosion and frequent rainfall activity in February,” said Berhampur divisional forest officer (DFO) Sunny Khokhar.

To facilitate smooth nesting this season, fencing has been done over a 5 km stretch along the coast while joint sea patrolling has also been intensified. As the turtles get disoriented due to lights, the ports and industrial establishments have been asked to dim the string lights of their facilities near the nesting sites till the hatchlings move out to the sea.

Forest officials said more than 6.5 crore eggs are estimated to have been laid by now. Each turtle lay up to 100-120 eggs. The hatchlings will emerge from the eggs after 45-60 days towards April-May.

They said the congregation of Olive Ridleys at Gahirmatha is also expected to commence soon as sporadic nesting has already started at the site. Gahirmatha usually witnesses arribada a fortnight after Rushikulya.

Meanwhile, wildlife wing in association with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, has launched a study on behaviour and movement of the Olive Ridleys. As part of the collaboration, satellite transmitters will be fitted on about 30 sea turtles across breeding sites, especially Rushikulya, to reasearch their movement and behaviour.