Arribada Ahoy [UPSC Notes]

Recently, the season of mass nesting of olive ridley turtles started at Gahirmatha and Rushikulya beaches in Odisha. This is an event every year, in the last couple of years, the numbers seemed affected due to climate change, pollution etc. But the scale of nesting has been bigger than usual this year and it is a matter of delight. This is an important Environment & Ecology topic for the IAS exam.

Aribadda of olive ridley: 

• Aribadda is a Spanish word which means arrival from the sea. The turtles come in mass numbers from the sea to lay eggs Every year to the shore.
• They swim for thousands of kilometers to reach here and lay eggs. 
• The condition of the branches are essential for the birth of sufficient offspring.
• When they reach shore, they make their nest by taking out the sand and making a shallow pit and lay eggs and cover it with sand and then go back to the ocean.
• The Olive Ridley turtles do not wait for the eggs to hatch, they will come back next season. 
• They spend their lives in the ocean. 
• Generally they come in the night time but this year they could be spotted even during daytime.
• Generally, only one turtle reaches adulthood from a batch of 1,000 eggs as many eggs are damaged by birds, stray dogs, high tide, beach erosion etc. 
• Hatchlings are also vulnerable when they travel towards the shore, from birds, stray dogs, big fishes etc.
• Right conditions and clean beaches may have contributed to the early nesting this year. 

Olive Ridley Turtles: 

• Olive Ridley turtle is named after its green gray top shell. 
• It is the smallest of all the sea turtle species and found in abundant numbers.
• These turtles are carnivores.

Facts about Olive Ridley Turtles for UPSC

Olive Ridley Turtle Mass Nesting in India

In India, Gahirmatha beach off the Bay of Bengal coast in Kendrapara district is acclaimed as the world’s largest nesting ground of these turtles.

According to the Indian Coast Guard, the following points are to be noted about the smallest sea turtles – Olive Ridley:

1. First Mass Nesting of these turtles was discovered in 1974. It was Gahirmatha rookery close to the mouth of Brahmani-Baitarani (Dhamra) River.
2. A second mass nesting was discovered in 1981 at the Devi River mouth.
3. The third mass nesting area was discovered at the Rushikulya river mouth in 1994.
4. The turtles come together at the Odisha Coast in November and December annually and stay up to April and March for nesting.
5. 100 to 140 eggs are laid by the adult female turtle at a time.

Other relevant facts about these turtles are:

1. The Odisha Coast has the right kind of nesting beaches around river mouths. The deltaic areas with sand pits in this coast is a suitable nesting site for turtles as they like it.
2. Olive Ridley seeks a specific latitude for nesting. A beach located at a latitude of around 25 degrees is what these turtles seek.
3. The olive ridley’s sense of magnetic field is responsible for their set behaviour. Environmental cues like sea currents, the sun’s position, surface winds, temperature, seasons and moon are taken into account by the turtles.
4. After hatching, adult turtles usually leave their eggs and swim away, and these hatchlings use these environmental cues only to get to foraging grounds.

Olive Ridley Conservation in India

Olive Ridleys in India are found from the Gujarat coast to the Andamans and Lakshadweep to Odisha and Bengal. These turtles make their journey from Australia to India of around 9000 km.

Read about India’s Operation Olivia concerning Olive Ridley Turtles in the linked article.

Protection Status:

• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule 1
• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• CITES: Appendix I

Habitat:

• Warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
• In India, the Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is known as the World’s largest rookery (colony of breeding animals) of sea turtles.

Threats to Olive Ridley turtles

1. Poached for Human Consumption: For their meat, leather and eggs.
2. Marine Pollution and Waste: plastic pollution, ghost nets etc.
3. Overexploitation of marine resources: Fishing trawlers, overfishing 

Other Initiatives for their protection:

1. Operation Olivia
2. Mandatory use of Turtle Excluder Devices 
3. Keeping track: An Olive Ridley turtle is tagged to help in identifying its migration path, understand the behavior of marine reptiles and use that knowledge for conservation efforts.
4. To have a good number of hatchlings, Olive Ridley eggs need protection from stray dogs and human interference, Forest officials keep a watch on this and wildlife organizations and volunteers also participate in this.

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