Sea turtles on the brink of extinction

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Shrinking sea turtle’s nest

Story/place-Dehradun.
A senior scientist of Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has warned that Orissa’s Gahirmatha marine sanctuary may no longer be the world’s largest rookery of the Olive Ridley marine turtles, due to massive erosion.
The spectacular arribada (Spanish for "mass congregation") of Olive Ridleys for nesting has intrigued both scientists and nature lovers throughout the world as they are trying to find out why these tiny turtles swim thousands of miles before they haul themselves onto the sandy beaches of Orissa.
The state’s coast has Olive Ridley rookeries at the Gahirmatha and Rushikulya rivermouths — two of seven known in the world. The Gahirmatha rookery had a nesting beach running 32 km when it was discovered in 1974-75. According to wildlife officials, researchers and activists, at least 2-3 lakh turtles used to congregate there every February-March for nesting.
Senior scientist B C Choudhury of the WII’s endangered species division told The Indian Express that the Gahirmatha nesting beach has shrunk to 900 metres in the past three decades. "A few years ago the migratory turtles used to lay eggs on a 6-km-long sandbar which got divided into two — Nasi I and Nasi II islands. The turtles have deserted Nasi-I while Nasi II, where they now lay eggs, is about 900 metres long," he said.
Turtle researcher in the Orissa Wildlife Department Chandra Sekhar Kar agreed that the government is concerned about the erosion but claims Gahirmatha is still the largest rookery for Olive Ridleys. "In 2009-10, more than 3.5 lakh turtles nested at Gahirmatha," he said.


source-indianexpress.com
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