Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Nearly 800 Olive Ridley sea turtles died making headlines while their carcasses washed ashore alongside Odisha’s coastline of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary which is the world’s largest rookery of sea turtles.

Once slaughtered in hundreds to thousands for meat and leather, olive ridleys are in the process of recovering from centuries of over-exploitation.

Years of exploitation

While the species has a wide range, their important breeding sites are kept very restricted, so efforts to protect their major beaches are vital.

Olive Ridley turtles are protected under the following statuses respectively:

  • IUCN Red listvulnerable/Near-threatened
  • Under Wildlife protection act– placed in schedule 1
  • Under CITES(Convention of International Trade on Wildlife Flora and Fauna)- placed in Appendix 1
  • Nations’ status range- vulnerable to threatened

Why do they need our help?
Anthropogenic activities do not leave even the protected species at rest, they impact the specie through:

1. Habitat loss and degradation
2. Illegal wildlife trade
A report was released in 2019 by TRAFFIC, an international wildlife trade monitoring organisation. It showed that least 200 tortoises and freshwater turtles fall prey to illicit poaching and smuggling every week, or 11,000 each year.

3. Collection of eggs and meat for consumption, even for oil and fertiliser.
4. Unintended or incidental capture (bycatch)
5. Climate change impacts like increasing water temperature.
6. Pollution and plastic wastes
7. Oil spills

The Ridley’s discrete population usually get impacted by the illegal harvest of their eggs in the dire belief of possessing aphrodisiac properties or there is also high mortality of adults due to coastal fisheries that do not yet use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in their nets.

The same inability or let’s say, lack of responsibility led to the killing of 800 turtles in Odisha this year.

Occurrences and habitats:

They are found along the Antilles, around the north coast of South America, in West Africa, Australia, the Indian Ocean and southeast Asia.

Feeding and breeding grounds:

East Pacific coast(Canada to southern Peru)
Costa Rica, Mexico.

Though nesting/ arribada occurs at low frequency but the highest concentrations of the olive ridley are found on the coast of Odisha, India.

The main beaches include Garhimatha(Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary), Rushikulya and Devi River mouths.

The turtles migrate in huge numbers from the beginning of November, every year, for mating and nesting along the coast of Orissa and it equally attracts both the scientists and the nature lovers throughout the world to this place.

Northern Australia and south-east Asia are known to harbour turtles with different genetic stock than the Orissa turtles.

Their populations are reported to have declined in Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand, and possibly on the east coast of India, south of Orissa and in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Current population:

800,000+ female olive ridleys
Annual nesting(in India) is between 100,000 and 500,000 turtles.

What role do Olive Ridleys play in Nature?

Like every being fulfills important roles in their respective ecosystems.

Olive ridley turtles feed on marine invertebrates checking both the open ocean and coastal ecosystems.

They can feed on filamentous algae in areas devoid of other food sources and even some level of cannibalistic behavior when kept captive.

Remarkably, these turtles have a sense of the chemical composition of their natal beaches and can use environmental cues by the sea currents, the sun’s position, surface winds, temperature, seasons and the moon to reach places.

Olive Ridleys are practically programmed by nature to sense signs like a displacement of water in ocean currents.

All these techniques can be studied and researched upon to utilise to everyone’s benefits.

According to Basudev Tripathy, deputy director, Zoological Survey of India(Kolkata):
“Many fishermen dump damaged fishing nets, plastic bottles, polythene and other hazardous materials into the ocean. The proposed ports will increase the flow of traffic and aggravate the threat to the sea turtles.”

Various programs like ‘Saving The Olive Ridley by Tata group‘, ‘ The Olive Ridley project‘ are already working to conserve the innocent souls.
Odisha High Court has ordered to set up a panel for the conservation and serious efforts in this regard.

Also World Turtle Day is celebrated to embolden our spirits to save these marine beings on May 23 every year.

An app KURMA has been developed by the Indian Turtle Conservation Action Network (ITCAN) in collaboration with the Turtle Survival Alliance-India and Wildlife Conservation Society-India to recognise the 29 species of freshwater turtles and tortoises of India so that they can be appropriately handled if caught being smuggled.

Olive ridley turtle is a priority specie. WWF considers it as one of the most ecologically, economically and/or culturally important species on our planet.

The governments can therefore ensure their safe environments, not just for aesthetics but for the fact that this planet and Land is not just a place for Humans, rather it’s a home for many souls.

By Alaina Ali Beg

I am a lover of all arts and therefore can dream myself in all places where the World takes me. I am an avid animal lover and firmly believes that Nature is the true sorcerer.