The more the merrier: Olive Ridleys bring cheer to Karnataka

Over 85 olive ridley sea turtles, a critically endangered species, have laid eggs on the beaches of the Honnavar range in Uttara Kannada district this season.

This is the highest number of nesting reported in this range in the last two decades for which period the turtle breeding has been documented. Officials say the previous highest nesting recorded in the range was 34, in 2008.

Olive ridley sea turtles are an indicator species, whose life cycle indicates climate change both on land and in the sea. Marine researcher Prakash Mesta says these turtles lay eggs only if there is a conducive environment and safe location.

Experts credit this positive development to the minimum human activities on these nesting grounds and better conservation methods taken up by the fishers and the forest department.

In the 3-km beach stretch between Apsarakonda and Pavinkorava, the fishers have sighted 86 sea turtle nests with over 5,000 eggs in them. The first female olive ridley sea turtle laid its eggs on the Kasarkod Tonka beach on December 14, 2022, and since then they have been noticing the flipper prints of turtles almost every alternate day.

The nesting season of the sea turtle is between December and April. Unusually, they have laid eggs even in the daytime.

"The National Green Tribunal's stay on laying of road and setting up of a private port near Kasarkod Tonka has come as a blessing for both fishers and sea turtles. Last year, we recorded 19 nests on the beach and spotted the carcasses of nine female turtles during the breeding season. This year, not a single dead turtle has been sighted," said Prakash Mesta.

Forest Department records show that over the last two decades, the breeding ground of sea turtles has shrunk from 15 beaches to five or six due to construction and infrastructure projects.

Canara Circle Chief Conservator of Forest Vasanth Reddy said that in the last 30 years, the forest department has ensured that over 50,000 hatchlings were released into the sea. "Soon, we will come up with a coastal marine cell in Honnavar for better protection. A proposal has been sent to set up a marine research centre in Karwar to study the natural habitat of various marine animals," he said.