WII’s satellite telemetry study on Olive Ridley turtles to track migratory path

Thirteen years after it performed a satellite tv for pc telemetry examine on organic and behavioural features of Olive Ridley sea turtles off the Odisha coast, the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India has proposed one other such examine subsequent yr to seek out out whether or not there was any change of their migratory path.

The examine, the third such by the institute, would study whether or not there was any change within the conventional migratory route of the marine turtles from the Odisha coast to Sri Lanka. It would additionally discover out if a few of these turtles keep close to the Odisha shoreline as an alternative of migrating out after the nesting season is over in March-April.

“We know that one set of the population of Olive Ridleys go to Sri Lanka while another set goes to Myanmar coast off Andaman sea. They travel for about 3,000 km and return to the Odisha coast. Through this new study we want to confirm the presence of some turtles along the Indian coast that don’t migrate out and stay within 100 nautical miles of Indian coast. Though we don’t expect any change in the migratory path, we need to study if there has been any change in their migratory paths and its reason. It’s going to be a very useful study,” stated Kuppusamy Sivakumar, scientist within the Endangered Species Management division of WII, Dehradun.

Named after English biologist Henry Nicholas Ridley who first reported the sighting of the turtles in Brazil in 1887, the omnivorous Olive Ridleys are among the many smallest of the marine turtle species on this planet. They can dive to nice depths and are extremely migratory, overlaying 1000’s of kilometers between foraging and nesting grounds. Their tear-drop formed carapace has an olive inexperienced color. They develop to a median of 70 cm lengthy whereas adults weigh roughly 45 kgs.

The most fascinating function of Olive Ridleys is their mass nesting known as ‘arribada’ that occurs on the Odisha coast when lakhs of gravid females select slender seashores close to estuaries to put eggs. Each grownup feminine lays roughly 100-140 eggs at a time. In India, arribada takes place within the east coast state of Orissa at three nesting grounds Gahirmatha, Devi river mouth and Rushikulya river mouth. Forest division officers estimated that in March this yr, round eight lakh turtles had laid eggs in Rushikulya and Gahirmatha websites.

The first satellite tv for pc telemetry examine on Olive Ridley turtles was achieved in April 2001, when the WII with Odisha forest division and turtle biologist Jack Frazier of the Smithsonian Institute fitted Platform Transmitter Terminals on 4 turtles at Devi nesting seashore for an internet monitoring of migratory routes. Of the 4 PTT-fitted turtles just one migrated in the direction of Sri Lanka. However, all of the 4 turtles stopped transmitting inside two to 4 months both attributable to technical issues or trawler-related mortality.

In the second examine achieved between 2007 and 2010 by WII and funded by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, 70 PTT had been used which confirmed that the turtles undertook open-ocean migrations within the Bay of Bengal and exhibited migratory hall between Sri Lanka and nesting websites alongside the Odisha coast of India. Sivakumar stated that the examine not simply gave a variety of details about their migratory route, but in addition helped Odisha authorities agency up its measures on 7-month ban on the coast between November and May to stop turtle mortalities throughout mating and nesting season.

“Following our study, the Odisha government announced a one-time notification banning fishing activity off the coast during the 7 months,” stated Sivakumar.

He stated by way of the brand new examine utilizing 30 PTTs to be achieved throughout the nesting season in April-May, the WII would attempt to discover out the developments within the migratory paths of the turtles and examine how turtle tourism may be achieved in Rushikulya nesting web site.

“We need some understanding of the current situation. More and more activities are being planned in Bay of Bengal and a lot of changes are happening in Odisha coast. As many fishermen are not happy due to loss of livelihood during the ban period, we want to know whether we can improve our action plan so that turtles are safe and fisherman can go with their livelihoods. Based on the telemetry studies we would see whether there is a need to reduce the fishing ban period or increase it. We would also see whether any change can be made to the no-fishing zone,” stated the WII scientist.

The examine can be performed over a interval of three years.

As WII doesn’t have cash to fund the research, it has proposed Odisha authorities to fund it. Odisha forest and setting secretary Mona Sharma stated cash wouldn’t be a difficulty. “We are waiting for their proposal,” stated Sharma.

Through the research, the WII would additionally accomplice with the Odisha authorities for enterprise analysis within the upcoming Sea Turtle Research and Conservation centre that’s prone to come up over 5 acres at Gorakhakuda village close to Rushikulya turtle nesting web site of Ganjam district.