Forest personnel of the Bhitarkanika National Park are now cynical over the mass nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles at the golden beaches of Gahirmatha, world’s largest rookeries of the species, as the arrival of the turtles has got delayed.
According to Rajnagar Mangrove and Wildlife Division DFO Kedar Kumar Swain, though a week back the Olive Ridley sea turtles were in the sea, but now they have disappeared, giving a signal that they might skip mass nesting and breeding this year.
DFO Swain said generally when the southern wind blows at the coast, turtles come en masse for laying eggs at the beaches. But this year, the southern winds hardly blew. Over a month or so, only once the southern wind did hit the coast and on that particular day, the number of sporadic nesting of turtle had increased. But the wind stopped later, which may be the prime reason for Olive Ridley to skip mass nesting this year.
Another reason that made the turtles skip mass nesting is the formation of a sand bar. Recently, a kilometre stretch sand bar has formed near the Nasi–II beach. So, the turtle might have failed to negotiate with the nesting beach making them finally to skip laying eggs. The shrinking of beaches over the years is also another reason for the endangered sea turtles to skip nesting, he said.
Swain further said sea patrolling failed to intensify during the peak time this year as the forest personnel feared to venture into the sea to restrict the trawler operation at prohibited zone due to the growing incidents of attack on sea. It may be noted here that the Olive Ridley sea turtles had earlier skipped the annual sojourn to Gahirmatha beach in 2002 and 2008.