Activists Clear Gahirmatha Beach For Olive Ridley Nesting In Odisha’s Kendrapada

Kendrapada: Activists are back on the Agaranasi beach in Odisha’s Kendrapada district, to prepare the ground Olive Ridley sea turtles which will be making the river bank their nesting site.

The three-km Agaranasi beach is one of the arribada (nesting) sites within Gahirmatha marine sanctuary. Over six quintal of trash like plastic items, glass bottles, shoes and footwear were collected from the beach. The trash was later taken to the mainland in boats by the volunteers of the clean-up drive which was undertaken by Forest department in collaboration with Gahirmatha Marine Turtle and Mangrove Conservation Society.

The garbage that gets washed up on the beaches poses a threat to the turtles as they get trapped and injured and in some cases they consume the harmful items which choke them.

Gahirmatha beach is the largest rookery of sea turtles in the world. From November 1 to May 31 the government bans all types of fishing in the area for the seven months. As many as 4,0,7020 turtles had laid eggs from March 14 to 21 at Nasi-1, Nasi-2 and Agaranasi islands within Gahirmatha last year.