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Every year, the Indian Coast Guard’s “Operation Olivia”, initiated in the early 1980s, helps protect Olive Ridley turtles as they congregate along the Odisha coast for breeding and nesting from November to December.
Details
- For optimal results, round-the-clock surveillance is conducted from November till May utilising Coast Guard assets such as fast patrol vessels, air cushion vessels, interceptor craft and Dornier aircraft to enforce laws near the rookeries,” a Coast Guard officer said.
- From November 2020 to May 2021, the Coast Guard devoted 225 ship days and 388 aircraft hours to protect 3.49 lakh turtles that laid eggs along the Odisha coast.
- The Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is listed as vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
- All five species of sea turtles found in India are included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and in Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora which prohibits trade in turtle products by signatory countries.
- The Orissa Marine Fisheries Act empowers the Coast Guard as one of its enforcement agencies.
Main factors that damage Olive Ridley turtles and their eggs
- Heavy predation of eggs by dogs and wild animals,
- Indiscriminate fishing with trawlers and gill nets,
- Beach soil erosion.
Nesting habits
- The Olive Ridley has one of the most extraordinary nesting habits in the natural world, including mass nesting called arribadas.
- The 480-km-long Odisha coast has three arribada beaches at Gahirmatha, the mouth of the Devi river, and in Rushikulya, where about 1 lakh nests are found annually.
- “Sea turtles generally return to their natal beach, or where they were born, to lay eggs as adults,” the Coast Guard officer explained.
- Mating occurs in the offshore waters of the breeding grounds and females then come ashore to nest, usually several times during a season.
Source: The Hindu
