Kendrapara: Pairs of Olive Ridley sea turtles have begun emerging on the sea waters off Gahirmatha along the Odisha coast, marking the commencement of the annual mass nesting of these endangered marine species.
Gahirmatha in Kendrapara district, 150 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, is the world’s largest rookery for Olive Ridley sea turtles.
Forest personnel on patrolling drives have sighted pairs of mating turtles. For undisturbed breeding of the aquatic animals, prohibition on sea fishing continues to remain in force in the marine sanctuary, said forest officials.
Apart from Gahirmatha, these threatened aquatic animals turn up at the Rushikulya river mouth in Ganjam district and the Devi river mouth in Puri district for mass nesting.
On the serene surface of sea waters, the turtle surveying teams spotted hundreds of mating pairs along the Gahirmatha coast.
After the end of the mating season, most of the male turtles usually return leaving behind the female turtles to lay their eggs, Gahirmatha forest range officer, Manas Das, said.
The female turtles virtually invade the nesting beaches usually in the dead of the night for laying eggs, the phenomenon otherwise described as ‘arribada’.
The turtles then leave the nesting ground to stride into the deep seawater. Hatchlings emerge from these eggs after 45-60 days.
 It is a rare natural phenomenon where the babies grow without their mother, the forest officer added.
 An estimated eight lakh female turtles had turned up to dig pits and lay millions of eggs on the nesting beaches in Odisha in February-March this year, he said.
