Preparations on for mass nesting of Ridleys in Ganjam

Berhampur: Expecting the mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles to take place near Rushikulya river mouth in the second or third week of this month, forest officials have geared up to ensure a smooth nesting.

“Around 5-km long nesting site has been cleaned. The work to fence the stretch is expected to be completed in the next few days,” said Dibya Shankar Behera, assistant conservator of forest (ACF), Khallikote. The area will be completely fenced to keep the place undisturbed and prevent visitors to the site, he said.


He said the forest department has already set up three hatcheries at Bateshwar, Purunabandh and Podampeta to preserve the eggs after the sporadic nesting of Olive Ridleys. Six temporary camps have been set up to monitor the safety of turtles during the mass nesting. At least four forest staff have been deployed in each camp, which is functioning round the clock. The temporary camps have set up at Prayagi, Podampeta, Gokharakuda, Purunabandh, Sidhartha Nagar and Bateswar, he said.

Preparation is on in a massive manner to welcome the Olive Ridley turtles for mass nesting to the area like the previous years, said Behera.

Mass nesting of the Olive Ridley started from Feb 15 last year and around 9.2 lakh turtles laid eggs in the two phases. While over 5.37 lakh Olive Ridleys laid eggs in the first phase of the mass nesting, over 3.83 lakh turtles laid eggs in the second phase of mass nesting from March 21 to March 30, sources said.

“We are expecting the mass nesting of turtles to take place 45 days after their mating. The turtles mated in the sea in the first week of Jan,” said Rabindra Nath Sahu, secretary, Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee. He said the beach profile was good this time. “There was no erosion as there was no flood in the Rushikulya this year,” he said. Mass nesting in the river month did not take place in 2002, 2007, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2024, sources said.