Turtle mass nesting begins in Orissa

The number one turtle rookery in the state located on the Gahirmatha beach inside Bhitarakanika wildlife and marine sanctuary in coastal Kendrapara district which is considered to be the biggest nesting ground in the world for Olive Ridley turtles had already recorded turtle mass nesting earlier this month.

The mass nesting of the sea turtles in Rusikulya and Devi river mouths has come as a great relief for turtle lovers, wildlife activists as well as forest and wildlife department officials in the state as the annual event at both the rookeries had already been delayed by almost one month.

“The turtle mass nesting in Rusikulya and Devi river mouth has come as a great relief for us as we apprehended that the Olive Ridleys may give a skip to both the rookeries this year. The mass nesting in both the places had already been delayed by almost a month compared to last year”, said a forest department official.

According to forest department employees manning the turtle rookery in Rusikulya river mouth, more than 70,000 turtles have already laid their eggs on the sea beach since last Sunday night. The mass nesting is expected to go on for the next two to three days. “Like last year, this year too we are expecting congregation of more than one lakh turtles on the Rusikulya beach”, said an official in the wildlife wing of the forest department here.

However, though mass nesting has already begun in the rookery on the Devi river mouth, the number of turtles arriving on the beach has not been as huge as Rusikulya or Gahirmatha rookery. “We hope the number to go up in the coming few days”, said an official.

Nearly one 1.50 lakh turtles had laid their eggs on Gahirmatha rookery early this month.