Kendrapara, Nov 17: Hundreds of Olive Ridley sea turtles were sighted by the forest personnel at deep sea in between Wheeler island to Habalikhati within Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary of Bay of Bengal.
The sighting of turtles indicates that the marine fauna has once again started their annual sojourn to the world’s largest rookery, RCCF (Wildlife ) Manoj Mahapatra said.
Like every year, a seven-month-long fishing ban at Gahirmatha marine sanctuary has already been imposed from November 1 by the Marine Fishery Department and Forest Department to provide security to the endangered Olive Ridley Sea turtle for laying eggs.
Gahirmatha marine sanctuary is considered the world’s largest rookery of Olive Ridley turtles. The Bhitarkanika Forest personnel have meanwhile, sought the help from Coastguard, Marine police and the Fishery department to step up surveillance at Gahirmatha Marine sanctuary.
Two offshore camps at Bahubali and Agarnasi and 14 onshore camps under Gahirmatha marine sanctuary from Dhamara to Devi’s mouth have been set up to restrict the illegal entry of trawlers to the sanctuary to protect the Olive Ridley sea turtles.
The female turtles arrive at the coast in the dead of the night and after laying eggs they get back into the deep seawater.
Hatchlings emerge from these eggs after 45-60 days and find their way to the sea creating a cacophony.
It is one of Nature’s rare phenomena where babies grow without their mother.
The endangered marine species congregated en masse for mass nesting on the Odisha coast between February to May.
Among the nesting grounds in the state, Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is said to be the largest rookery for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle, which is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act,1972.
The movement of the turtles is found in the deep sea of the Bay of Bengal between October last week and November first week.
The mating pair is generally noticed in the last week of November or the first week of December inside the deep sea.
Official sources said as many as 5, 01, 157 Olive Ridley sea turtles came ashore en masse to the golden beach of Nasi-2 within Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary and laid eggs within a span of three days from March 25 to March 28 last.
