Forest officials with the help of local fishermen released as many as 110 Olive Ridley hatchlings into the sea at Arkattuthurai near Vedarnayam for the first time in the current season on Thursday.
The Nagapattinam Forest Ranger, V.Gobinath, told The Hindu that the 120 kilometre-long coastline of the district extending from Vanagiri in Sirkazhi taluk to Kodiyakkarai in Vedarnayam block was an endangered turtle species hotspot. The nesting season of the turtle falls between the middle of November and end of March.
In the current season, the department had collected as many as 6,000 eggs from the coast and had sent it to 10 hatcheries at Vanagiri, Pazayaru, Koozayaru, Rameswaram, Vettaikaranyiruppu, Pusphavanam, Arkattuthurai, Maniyan Theevu, and Kodiayakkarai. Olive Ridley is an endangered species as only one among thousand hatchlings released into the sea survives. The conducive atmosphere prevailing (wetness) in the district has helped the hatchling to come out of the eggs successfully. The hatching rate was nearly cent per cent. Of the 117 eggs kept in the artificial hatchery at Arkattuthurai, as many 110 hatchling came out successfully in the first batch, Mr.Gobinath said. The Olive Ridley hatchlings are known as the ‘friends of fishermen and nucleus of the marine food chain’ as they play a key role in maintaining a healthy seagrass bed (submerged plants) and helping juvenile fishes get enough nutrients by cleaning the coral reefs, Mr.Gobinath said.
