Tarkarli beach, famous for water adventure sports in Maharashtra, has recently recorded an Olive Ridley Turtle nest for the first time.
Context
Tarkarli beach, famous for water adventure sports in Maharashtra, has recently recorded an Olive Ridley Turtle nest for the first time.
Important facts about Olive Ridley Turtles
- The Olive Ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.
- These turtles are carnivores and get their name from their olive colored carapace.
- They are best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.
- They are found in warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
- The Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is known as the world’s largest rookery (colony of breeding animals) of sea turtles.
- They are extensively poached for their meat, shell and leather, and eggs.
Sporadic nesting in Maharashtra
- Olive Ridley is considered the most abundant sea turtle in the world, with sporadic nesting in Maharashtra, Goa, and the offshore Andaman Islands.
- In Maharashtra, nesting is recorded across three districts in the southernmost region of the state— Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.
- The highest number of nests and hatchlings are recorded in three beaches in Ratnagiri — Guhagar, Velas and Anjarle.
- These beaches also hold an annual Turtle festival in March— a potential hatchling period for the Olive Ridley turtles, when juvenile turtles break the eggshell and crawl to the sea.
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Conservation Status
- They are listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
- They are classified as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.
Threats to the species
- An ever-increasing debris of plastics, fishing nets, discarded nets, polythene and other garbage dumped in the water.
