In April of this yr, the locals of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh watched in fascination as hundreds of Olive Ridley turtles waddled throughout the sands. It was stunning. Elaborating on how the scores of turtle hatchlings had been launched into the ocean on the event of the Olive Ridley Pageant — a two-day occasion spanning 19 and 20 April — district forest officer S. Venkatesh talked about that 13 conservation centres are operated alongside the Baruva Seashore. That is in collaboration with Tree Basis, a Tamil Nadu-based organisation that actively works on sea turtle conservation.
“Volunteers monitor the seashores every day and establish nesting websites by monitoring turtle footprints. The eggs are rigorously collected and transferred to the protected conservation centres the place they hatch after roughly 45–50 days. The hatchlings are then launched into the ocean throughout early morning hours between 5:15 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.,” he defined.
Because the solar set, the locals witnessed a second of quiet magic.
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Listed ‘weak’ on the IUCN (Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature) Purple Listing, the Olive Ridley turtles face severe threats attributable to unintended entanglement in fishing gear, habitat destruction, and the unlawful assortment of their eggs and meat. Their seashores are in danger attributable to coastal growth and human interference. This mass launch of the hatchlings proves to be an essential second in conservation.
As Venkatesh famous in an interview with Deccan Chronicle, “Roughly 370,000 eggs had been rigorously collected.” He added that final yr, 1.25 lakh hatchlings had been launched into the ocean.
Based on a World Wildlife Fund estimation, roughly one hatchling survives to achieve maturity for each 1000 hatchlings that enter the ocean waters. To this finish, the competition celebrated in Srikakulam holds weight — an enormous second for the conservationists whose gaze is skilled on serving to these turtles recoup and discover their approach again onto our shores.
Sources
Olive Ridley Turtle: by WWF India.
Olive Ridley Pageant Attracts Crowds to Srikakulam’s Baruva Seashore Andhra Pradesh: by Laxmi Pranathi, Printed on 20 April 2025.