With the seasonal guests from the Pacific and the Indian Oceans completing their visit to the islands along the Bay of the Bengal for the year, after leaving their eggs in different pits along the sandy stretches, it is now time for celebrating the release of Olive Ridley hatchlings into the sea from the sites of conservation.
In all, a record number of over 91,000 female turtles laid their eggs different islands, including the Sacramento Island, near here, between December and March, the hatchlings are coming out of the sand pits as their hatching period of six weeks has been completed.
Release during night
As the eggs are being laid only during the night time, it is found that release of hatchlings into the sea during the night time is more comfortable for the little ones to reach the ocean of their origin by swimming back all the way. “It is a very interesting phenomenon that the Olive Ridley turtles swim for weeks to reach here and lay their eggs. Similarly, these little turtles too prefer to go back, instead of staying here,” observed H. Arun Kumar, District Collector, while formally releasing the first batch of hatchlings into the sea on Sunday night.
Headed by him, officials and staff of the wildlife division of the Forest Department and the local fishermen released the turtles into the Bay of Bengal with the help of torchlights.
In the Sacramento Island alone, 2,785 hatchlings were released into the sea, whereas from other destinations such as Hope Island, Gachakayalapora, Surasani Yanam, Antarvedi and Vaasalatippa a total 91,350 tiny turtles were freed from the in situ and ex situ conservation sites arranged by the department by hiring the local fishermen.
“In all, we are expected to release about 1.6 lakh hatchlings into the sea from our conservation sites. The number is quite encouraging, as we have released 1.2 lakh baby turtles last year,” says A. Sunil Kumar, Forest Range Officer of the Wildlife wing.
Alarming trend
The releasing process will be completed in the next few weeks, as the season will end in May in general.
Though there was a delay in the commencement of egg laying this year, the conservation efforts seem to have given a good result. “But, there is a steep increase in the mortality of turtles this year. We have spotted about 700 carcases this year, against 152 last year. There is an immediate need to regulate the movement of the mechanised boats in the waters near the conservation sites,” says K. Thulasi Rao, State project coordinator of the EGREE Foundation that is funding the in situ and ex situ conservation of the species.
