Harbouring tenderness amid rough waters Premium

Many of the Olive Ridley turtles, tagged ‘vulnerable’ by the IUCN, utilise the beaches of North Andhra coast for their sporadic nesting activity; five hatcheries set up by conservationists only between R.K. Beach and Bheemunipatnam coasts

One cannot look at an Olive Ridley turtle’s journey from the sea to a nesting site and the emergence of hatchlings from the eggs and not once think of the true strength that lies in the delicate.

A documentary on marine turtle conservation made by the Visakhapatnam Division of AP Forest Department, titled ‘Saviours of the Sea –Tryst with the City of Destiny’, captures the journey of Olive Ridley turtles from the vast sea to the shore as they proceed for nesting their eggs. The fine balance of nature that allows the turtles to survive is depicted in the video conceptualised by the District Forest Officer and curator of the Indira Zoological Park, Anant Shankar.

A female turtle is seen flapping its flippers and making the perilous journey towards the shore, where it was born, at the RK Beach in Visakhapatnam. Had it not been for the intervention from the conservationists, the fate of the turtle and the more than 100 eggs it is about to lay is uncertain.

Thanks to the conservationists’ safe nesting centres, the turtle moves across the sand, find a safe and secluded spot, and digs a pit where it gently drops its eggs in clutches, one after the other. Next, it uses its flippers to close the pit with sand.

The fate of the eggs and the hatchlings that would come out of them after three months is also not any less dangerous than their mother’s tryst with the land. This is because they are a favourite delicacy of most canines and predatory birds that anticipate their arrival during this time of the year.

But for those hatchlings that are hatched on the shores between the R.K. Beach and Bheeminupatnam, their chances of survival are good as they are in the good hands of the conservationists.

Of the seven species of sea turtles in the world, five species are reported to be found in Indian coastal waters. Leatherback (Dermochelys Coiracea); Loggerhead (Caretta caretta); Green turtle (Chelonia mydas); Hawk’s bill (Eretmochelys imbricata), and Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) are the five species and all are included in the Schedule I of the Indian wildlife (Protection) Act (1972) and in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).