Researchers lose radio contact with Olive Ridley

It is suspected that the device may have malfunctioned, or that the turtle may have died. It was last detected just off the coast in the shallow waters of Ratnagiri district

Mumbai Researchers with the forest department’s Mangrove Foundation confirmed on Friday that they have lost radio contact with Laxmi, a female Olive Ridley turtle, who was fitted with a platform transmitter terminal (PTTs) at Ratnagiri’s Guhagar Beach on February 16, as part of a study to monitor Olive Ridleys’ migratory path to Maharashtra every winter for nesting season.

The study received approval in October 2020, during the third governing body meeting of the Mangrove Foundation. (HT Photo)

It is suspected that the device may have malfunctioned, or that the turtle may have died. It was last detected just off the coast in the shallow waters of Ratnagiri district.

“If the turtle has died and the carcass has sunk, we will not get any signal from it. There’s really no way to tell. We have received a lot of interest from ordinary citizens in this project and we wanted to honestly convey that there is a possibility that the turtle is dead. We will not be tagging any more turtles this nesting season. We had permission from the union environment ministry only for five individuals, who have all been tagged. Though it is a setback, we can still gather some interesting data from the four other turtles we are monitoring,” said Harshal Karve, marine biologist with the Mangrove Foundation.

While satellite monitoring of Olive Ridleys -- whose conservation status has been assessed as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) -- has been previously carried out on India’s east coast, this marks the first time such a study has been commissioned in the west, officials with the forest department’s mangrove cell confirmed. The study received approval in October 2020, during the third governing body meeting of the Mangrove Foundation.