Olive Ridley nesting sites in Maharashtra double since 2020, up five times since 2015

The number of turtle nesting sites along Maharashtra’s coastline has doubled this year as compared to 2020, according to data by Maharashtra forest department’s Mangrove Foundation

The number of turtle nesting sites along Maharashtra’s coastline has doubled this year as compared to 2020, according to data by Maharashtra forest department’s Mangrove Foundation. During nesting season (which runs from December to March), a total of 451 nesting sites were recorded through field observations, up from 288 during the same period last year.

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Of these, the majority were recorded in Ratnagiri district, where 277 nesting sites were seen (up from 148 last year). This was followed by Sindhudurg, where 146 nesting sites were seen (as against 68 last year). In Raigad, which is the only other district where sea turtles are found to regularly nest, the number went up from 15 last year to 28 in the current season. The proportion of nesting sites across these three districts is in line with past data up to 2015, as provided by the mangrove foundation.

In fact, data shows a significant increase in the number of nesting sites in over the past six years. In 2017, for example, only 75 nests were recorded across these three districts. That figure has shown steady improvements, year on year. While there are four species of sea turtles recorded in Maharashtra, Olive Ridleys are the only one that nest in the state and have widest population distribution. While officials and experts unanimously agreed that the development is a positive one, they did not reveal specific reasons for the same.

“It will require more study to understand why there has been a sudden jump this year, but my hunch is that this is a result of more than a decade of conservation efforts by the state. Hatchlings that were released from these same areas a few years ago are now coming back to lay their eggs as mature adults,” said Harshal Karve, a marine biologist with the Mangrove Foundation.

Karve explained that sea turtle conservancy has been a focus of not only the government, but also NGOs and local communities since the early 2000s. The movement can be attributed almost singularly to the work of an NGO named Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra (SNM), which started a marine turtle conservation program in 2002 in Ratnagiri’s Velas village. Since then, a range of measures to conserve turtles have been implemented, including removal of ‘ghost’ fishing nets from deeper waters and setting up of turtle treatment and rehabilitation centres in multiple districts.

In 2018, a compensation scheme for fishermen under the Wildlife Protection Act was also implemented, which provides cash incentives to fishermen who may inadvertently catch sea turtles while fishing. So far, a total of 146 sea turtles have been released under the scheme, including 90 Olive Ridleys, 51 green sea turtles, three hawksbill turtles, and two leatherback turtles. A marine respondent group comprising forest department officials was also set up around this time to coordinate faster response to stranded cetaceans in Maharashtra, a significant majority of which includes Olive Ridleys.

This is not the first time that such a sudden increase in Olive Ridley nesting sites has been seen in the state. A similar doubling was also observed between 2017 and 2018, when the number of observed nests increased from 153 to 303. Notably, 2017 was the year in which the mangrove foundation stepped in as the state’s nodal authority overseeing turtle conservation efforts. The first capacity building workshop among locals and officials was conducted at the Regional Coconut Research Centre, Ratnagiri on 4th February, 2017.

Others, however, said that the spurt -- which has followed a year of halted developmental and commercial activities around the world -- may be due to a more complex interplay of factors. A kasavmitra (or ‘turtle friend’) employed with the mangrove foundation speculated that reduced fishing activities during the lockdown, which were further affected by rougher weather conditions at sea , have likely played a role in reducing Olive Ridley deaths as bycatch, allowing a larger number of females to reach their nesting grounds.

“It cannot be ruled out. If a slowdown in fishing is responsible, then it is worrying because we are finally getting a sense of how much risk commercial fishing poses to Olive Ridleys. We will have to wait till next year and see, whether resumption of fishing brings the numbers down again,” they said.

It also remains to be seen whether the increase in nesting sites this year translates to the release of more hatchlings back into the sea after birthing season, which typically lasts between April and May. In 2020, the ‘hatchling success rate’ -- or proportion of turtles which survive the nesting period -- stood at a six year low of 39% (down from 57% the previous year). “We have begun releasing turtles from our hatcheries, but the final results will be available only at the end of the month,” said Karve.

Varad Giri, a herpetologist who has been closely involved in sea turtle conservation in Maharashtra, said the trend is undoubtedly a positive one. “Of course, reduced human activity during the pandemic may have played a role in the current increase, but the long-term increase in nesting sites is entirely due to community participation, which NGOs like Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra have been able to facilitate in districts like Raigad, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri. Where turtle eggs were once being poached, they are now actively protected and cared for by citizens. The involvement of people outside of usual interest groups, such as government officials or researchers, is what has made the program successful,” he said.