Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government imposed a ban on fishing activities from Tuesday for a period of seven months, marking the beginning of the nesting season of endangered Olive Ridley turtles.
According to sources, the prohibition is clamped every year to ensure that the turtles do not get entangled in fishing nets or come under the paddle of trawlers. Fishing activities have been banned in an area spanning 20 km from the mouths of rivers Dhamara, Devi, and Rusikulya.
A multi-layered patrolling exercise, involving forest and fisheries departments, and the marine police, besides the coast guard personnel, will be carried out at the turtle shelters near the river mouths to keep a check on unlawful activities, a forest official informed. Extensive preparations have been made by the Puri Wildlife Division.
Olive Ridley turtles came to Rushikulya Estuary in Gahirmatha and the Devi river Estuary in Astaranga to lay their eggs.
Five high-speed boats, 13 trawlers, and support boats are being pressed into service to intercept illegal fishing trawlers in prohibited zones, added the forest official.
Notably, the female turtles invade the beaches usually in the dead of the night for laying eggs during the nesting season, the phenomenon otherwise described as ‘arribada’.
After laying eggs, the turtles leave the nesting ground to stride into the deep sea. Hatchlings emerge from these eggs after 45-60 days.
