Olive Ridleys arrive in Odisha again, Experts term ‘rare occurrence’

Berhampur: In a very rare occurrence, thousands of Olive Ridley sea turtles have arrived at Rushikulya River mouth on Odisha coast for mass nesting once again.

This is for the first time the endangered sea turtles have turned up for mass nesting for second time during summer season.

The wildlife experts and environmentalists termed such phenomenon as ‘rare occurrence’, while some naturalists link the recurrence of mass nesting with possible natural disaster.

According to reports, more than 5,000 sea turtles have arrived at Rushikulya River mouth in the early hours of Wednesday for mass nesting and laying eggs.

This year, around 4.50 lakh Olive Ridley turtles laid eggs at Rushikulya in February. Almost 3 crore hatchlings have been released into the sea so far.

Such recurrence of mass nesting was never expected during mass hatching in April on Odisha coast, said Berhampur divisional forest officer (DFO) Ashis Behera.

Earlier, similar incident had occurred in 2009 and 2012 in the past one decade when the eggs laid by the turtles were not formed into hatching, he added.

The global warming is responsible behind such rare occurrence of mass nesting on Odisha coast, said Orissa Environmental Society President Sundara Narayana Patro.

The recurrence of Olive Ridleys’ mass nesting has also connection with the natural disasters. The phenomenon has occurred in the past during the period when Odisha witnessed the natural disasters like Tsunami in 2004, heat wave in 2006, floods in 2009, unseasonal rain in north-east India and Odisha in 2012, Patro said.