ZSI & Odisha govt to tag Olive Ridley turtles near Rushikulya river mouth

In a bid to track themigratory pattern of the endangered Olive ridley turtles, theZoological Survey of India (ZSI) in collaboration with Odishagovernment on Tuesday launched a drive to tag the turtles nearthe Rushikulya river mouth in Ganjam district, an officialsaid.

The tag of the inconel metal is uniquely numbered andhas details such as the name of the organization and email.

''This will help in finding the extent of travel andlocation of the turtles after congregation and nesting in thebeach for further research on the behaviour of the Oliveridley,'' said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Berhampur,Amlan Nayak.

On the first day of the drive of tagging, they havetagged at least six turtles, including four females and twomales, he said. Besides DFO, turtle expert Basudev Tripathy,officer-in charge of Estuarine Biology Research Center (EBRC),Regional Centre of ZSI, Gopalpur Anil Mohapatra participatedin the tagging programme.

The exercise to tag the Olive ridley turtle wasstarted in the state after a gap of about 25 years. Previouslyit had been conducted during 1994-95 and around 8,000 turtleswere tagged. This time, the target is to tag around 30,000turtles, said the DFO.

The process of the tagging will be continued and itwill be expedited during the time of the mass nesting, whenthe turtles climb the sandy beach, he said.

This will provide insights into the turtles' migratorypatterns and routes, their behaviour at sea, where theirmarine habitats are located and how turtles use the differenthabitats, said an expert.

The scientists of the Wildlife Institute of India(WII) had fitted satellite transmitters and platformtransmitter terminals (PTT) on at least 30 turtles last yearin three mass nesting sites of the olive ridleys in differentsites. The WII had also conducted a study of the migrantpattern of the Olive ridleys in 2007-10.

Lakhs of Olive Ridley turtles congregate for massnesting along the Odisha coast, particularly at the Gahirmathamarine sanctuary, Rushikulya river mouth and Devi river mouthevery year.