Olive Ridleys clock a file Day-1 flip at Odisha’s Gahirmatha sanctuary

Express News Service

KENDRAPARA: After a lot hypothesis and delay, a file variety of Olive Ridley turtles arrived on March 25 at Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary for mass nesting.

“A file variety of round 2,45,188 Olive Ridley sea turtles got here ashore for mass nesting on the Nasi-1 and Nasi-2  islands of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary inside Bhitarkanika National Park on  March 25 evening. 

“We are delighted that for the first time on a single day more than 2 lakh turtles laid eggs at Gahirmatha. Last time around 3,49,694 turtles laid eggs from  March 9 to March 23,” divisional forest officer of Bhitarkanika National Park, JD Pati stated.

Nasi–1 and a couple of islands of 5 km is a perfect nesting strip for the turtles due to no presence of predators and human habitation. The mass nesting would proceed for per week, because the eggs usually take 45 days to hatch. Then the tiny hatchlings make their option to the ocean, the forest officer defined.

The forest officer knowledgeable that about 30 forest officers together with forest guards are guarding the seashore to guard turtles and their eggs. 

The state authorities imposed a ban order on fishing actions contained in the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary from Nov 1 to May 31  to guard the turtles. Gahirmatha was declared a marine sanctuary overlaying 1435 sq. kilometers from Dhamra mouth to Hukitola island in 1997 by the federal government.