The mass nesting of olive ridley turtles has begun at Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary in Kendrapara district. The phenomenon known as Arribada (Spanish for mass nesting) began on 14 March 2020. Already 15,000 turtles have come ashore to lay eggs and more will arrive soon.
According to Bikash Ranjan Dash, the Divisional Forest Officer of Bhitarkanika National Park, the turtles have come to the Nasi-1 and Nasi-2 islands. The two tiny islands are part of the Gahirmatha sanctuary and are only six km long. But they offer an excellent nesting site for the turtles as there are no predators or human habitation near them.
Also Read: Why Life isn’t a Walk on the Beach for Odisha’s Olive Ridley turtles
In 2019 around 4.7 lakh olive ridley turtles had arrived in what is known as the world’s largest rookery of the marine animal. In 2018, a record 6.6 lakh turtles had arrived in the same location, breaking the nesting record of the past 16 years.
What is Mass Nesting?
The NOAA says that Arribada nesting is a behavior found only in the genus Lepidochelys which includes the Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and the olive ridleys. Although other turtles have been documented nesting in groups, no other turtles (marine or land) have been observed nesting in such mass numbers and synchrony.
The olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) turtle nests sporadically along the east coast and west coast of India including the Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. However, mass nesting takes place only along the Odisha coast.
The major arribada sites in the world are located at Nancite and Ostional in Costa Rica, Oaxaca in Mexico, and at three sites (Gahirmatha, Devi and Rushikulya) in Odisha.
The mass nesting of olive ridley turtles in Gahirmatha was first reported by H. R. Bustard, a FAO/UNDP consultant during his all India crocodile survey in 1974. Gahirmatha is located in the river mouth of Maipura, between Dharma and Paradeep port, in the northern part of Odisha. The beach of Gahirmatha is part of Bhitarkanika National Park. Estimate of mass nesting in Gahirmatha has ranged between 100,000 and 800,000 in different years.
Before 1989, mass nesting occurred on a 10-km mainland beach near the river mouth, which subsequently got fragmented into smaller islands. Now mass nesting takes place on small islands known as Nasi-1 and Nasi-2. The turtles are known to arrive around December and nest till March. The first arribada at Gahirmatha is normally followed by a second one of much lower intensity after a gap of 45–60 days.
This year the arrival of the turtles has been delayed due to rain and bad weather informed Dash. The turtles came in groups of 2000 to 4000 and are also nesting on the seashores close to the Gahirmata beach.
Also Read: 5000 Olive Ridley Turtles Released Along Andhra Pradesh Coast
The baby turtles will release after around 45 days and head straight towards the seas. Like an internal geo-mapping mechanism, these tiny turtles on reaching adulthood, would return to the same beach to nest and bring their own babies into the world.
Featured Image via The Statesman
