The Olive Ridley Turtles of Rushikulya Rookery:
Efforts towards saving this endangered species

Srobana Bhattacharya

With the onset of winters, hundreds and thousands of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles migrate from the Indian Ocean, south of Sri Lanka and arrive on the Orissa Coast for breeding. The highly complex yet dynamic ecosystem which marks the coastline of Orrisa is an ideal habitat for the sea turtle.

Of the seven species of the World’s sea turtles, four species are known from Indian seas and the olive ridleys are the most abundant of all sea turtles. Like the rarer Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) they exhibit the phenomenon of synchronous mass nesting, known as arribadas (Spanish term referring to mass arrival). This mass nesting is a spectacular natural phenomenon. Nesting aggregates of over 100,000 females have been reported from Pacific Mexico, Pacific Costa Rica and Orissa. Orissa has three known arribada beaches- Gahirmatha, Devi and Rushikulya river mouth. Gahirmatha was first reported by Bustard in 1974, Devi rookery was discovered in 1983 and the Rushikulya rookery was discovered a decade ago.

But this very habit of visiting Orissa’s beaches for breeding annually has threatened its very existence. Besides poaching of eggs or killing of turtles for local consumption a decade and a half of mechanized trawling and gill netting have killed more Olive Ridley sea turtles along the Orissa coast than centuries of sea fishing by traditional methods.

The phenomenon of mass nesting of the olive ridley turtles in Rushikulya came to be known in 1994. Located on the northern bank of Rushikulya river-mouth, the Rushikulya Sea Turtle Rookery is only 1 km east of the Chennai-Calcutta National Highway No.5 and the East Coast Railway near Ganjam town. It is 12 km north of Gopalpur seaport and 300 km south of the Gahirmatha mass nesting beach. Spread over six km the rookery stretches from the village Puranabandha to Kantiagada village. Human settlements near the mass nesting beach include the fishing villages of Puranabandha and Palibandha and the major fish landing centers are Gokhurkuda, Kantiagarha and Nuagaon.

Anthropogenic stress such as lighting near the nesting beach, Casurina Plantation, developmental activities such as industries, human settlements and military installation along the area are known to impact on the nesting turtles as well as the hatchlings.

The coastal illumination near the beach occurs due to the presence of Ganjam Township and the Jayashree chemicals. It is harmful to the turtles because this disorients adults and hatchlings and they are unable to find their way back to the sea after emerging from the nest and die of desiccation or predation by feral dogs and birds. Extensive plantation of Casurina (Jhaun) near the beach also makes the beach unsuitable for turtles to nest. The loss of nesting habitats can have a disastrous consequence to the turtle population.

Following the decline of other rookeries in the recent years the importance of Rushikulya rookery has increased manifold. The sand dunes near the river mouth of Rushikulya provide optimal nesting site for the turtles. However, natural and man induced factors poses a threat to the nesting habitat, the nesting females, their eggs and hatchlings.

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) funded a Rapid Action Project (RAP) in 2004, to protect the olive ridley population along the coast of Orissa which included the nesting beach, the sea turtle eggs and the hatchlings. It was initiated with an effort towards protection of the nesting habitat.

The project which was carried between January to May 2004 mainly focused on, cleaning of debris on the six kilometer long mass nesting beach of Rushikulya sea turtle rookery, round the clock protection of sea turtle nest from feral dogs and other predators, relocation of nests that were in danger of ruin due to erosion, protection of hatchlings on the beach from disorientation, releasing of disoriented hatchlings to the sea and community involvement in conservation program.

The fieldwork was undertaken in association with a local coast based Non- Government Organization , the Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee (RSTPC), Puranabandha.

The activities that were undertaken by the RAP were:

Beach cleaning: From 10 th -16 th January the beach cleaning program was undertaken. Both non-biodegradable and biodegradable garbage was collected and segregated. While the biodegradable wastes were burnt on the beach, the non-biodegradable wastes were dumped at a safe distance from the beach. Following this sporadic nesting of olive ridley turtles started on this stretch since last week of January.

Sea turtle arribada monitoring: The investigator, RAP assistants and RSTPC members were on a close monitor of a part of the beach stretching up to four kilometers for recording the sporadic nesting and rescuing the nests from non-human predation. However, many of the sporadic nests could not be saved due to dispersed nesting by the turtles.

The season’s first mass nesting was witnessed on the debris-cleared stretch of two – kilometer beach near Kantiagarah village beach on 20 th February, where more than 800 turtles nested in a single night. The next nesting took place on the 10 th of March and continued for 4 nights. The first arribada night saw 10,000 turtles, while the next night the number shot up to 80,000. In the third night there were around 20,000 and the fourth night had 8,000. The nesting became sporadic after 14 th of March. In total approximately 1, 20,000 turtles nested at the Rushikulya Rookery over a period of four/five nights and during this period, a total of 150 nests were relocated on the mass nesting beach.

In-situ protection of nests: Local assistants were deployed on the beach from mid February to save the sporadic nests from non-human predation. There was no incidence off poaching of eggs for local consumption recorded from the mass nesting beach during the entire project work duration.

Ex-situ protection of nests: The relocated nests were guarded by the RAP local assistants as well as by the RSTPC members for the entire incubation period. Out of the total 234 relocated nests, hatchlings emerged out successfully from 189 nests. The low emergence success from the rest 45 nests was mainly due to relocations, as during mass nesting many nests could not be relocated immediately.

Releasing of disoriented hatchlings: The mass hatching of sea turtles started from 26 th April and continued till 2 nd May. From among the natural nests, more than 80% of the nests emerged out successfully. As a precautionary measure, nets were embedded in the beach at safe distance to stop the hatchlings if they were landward bound.

Almost every morning disoriented hatchlings were collected from the nets as well as from the beach in plastic tubs and buckets and were released back to the sea safely. In total around 500, 00 hatchlings were saved from dying due to desiccation or predation by avian predators.

Community participation in conservation: The RAP at Rushikulya sea turtle rookery also made an attempt to bring the local community into the sea turtle conservation front. As a confidence building measure, the investigator had a permanent camp at the Purunabandha village during the project. The other coastal villages of Gokhurkuda and Kantiagarh were visited regularly and awareness camps with the aid of audio-visuals on sea turtle and their conservation was carried out among the fishermen.

Attempting towards protection of sea turtles, their nests, eggs and hatchlings this RAP was first of its kind to be held in Rushikulya. Hoping that similar actions must continue in future some recommendations for conservation projects aiming at saving the sea turtle were also thought about. The recommendations mention about an initiative towards an annual nesting beach cleaning program, proper monitoring of the sea turtle population at Rushikulya rookery, barricading the particular stretch to prevent the entry of dogs and jackals, discouraging new casurina plantation at the nesting beach, relocation of nests, which are in danger of getting destroyed due to erosion by the community managed sea turtle hatchery and most important, an awareness regarding the sea turtle should be created in all the coastal village with the help of training workshops.

The effort towards conserving the sea turtles will be most effective if people at large become a part of this process. Community based sea turtle conservation (protection nets and releasing of hatchlings etc.) should be promoted at this rookery. Sensitization at different levels by project authorities will definitely help these sea turtles from becoming extinct.

(Srobana works with the Wildlife Trust of India as an Intern)