Kendrapara: The much-awaited mass nesting of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles commenced at Nasi-II beach within the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.
Over 1.20 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles laid eggs during the last 72 hours, Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary Ranger Debashis Bhoi said.
The mass nesting phenomenon, he said is likely to continue for another five to six days.
Mr Bhoi said forest personnel have taken all precautionary measures to provide a congenial atmosphere for the Olive Ridley sea turtle for laying eggs.
Official sources said while 18,350 female Olive Ridley laid eggs at Nasi-II between March 14 and 15 as many as 32,560 Olive Ridley laid eggs at the golden beach of Nasi 2 in between March 15 night and March 16 Morning and 72,600 laid eggs during the last 24 hours.
Olive Ridley sea turtle is protected under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act,1972 and accorded the highest protection like endangered tigers.
With DRDO prohibiting visitors, only a handful of forest personnel on turtle protection duty have been engaged at the beach to witness this unique natural heritage.
Turtle nests have been counted segment-wise at Nasi-II beach.
The forest personnel have made 24 segments at Nasi-II for counting turtle's nest and engaged 26 forest personnel to count the nest in each segment per hour.
Each segment has been formed with 100-meter width Rajnagar Mangrove forest and wildlife Division DFO Bikash Ranjan Dash said
The DRDO, he said has also masked the light to provide security to the endangered species for laying eggs at the coast
Over four lakh olive Ridley sea turtles laid eggs at the golden beaches of Gahirmatha Marine sanctuary from March 14 to March 21 last year. (UNI)
