Olive Ridley turtle lays her eggs at Trasi beach near Kundapur on Tuesday. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Trasi beach in Kundapur taluk which was the nesting place for Olive Ridley turtles for more than 25 years played host to a Ridley on Tuesday when it laid eggs after a gap of 14 years.
Starting point for Trasi-Maravanthe beach where National Highway 66 passes, Trasi beach has been a nesting place for Olive Ridley turtles for many years.
According to Dinesh Saranga of FSL India, an NGO engaged in environmental protection in Kundapur, local fisherman Sandeep Kharvi found the nest on Tuesday. He also witnessed the process of laying eggs by a single turtle.
He immediately informed the concerned about the rare development including Forest Department, FSL India, Reef Watch NGO.
Gopal Kharvi, Rajesh Kharvi, Subramanya Kharvi Maravanthe, Anand Balegar, Venkatesh and Sri Saranga from FSL from Forest Department reached the spot and provided necessary protection to the hatchery.
Volunteers guard the hatchling nest after an Olive Ridley turtle laid its eggs at Trasi beach near Kundapur on Tuesday. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Mr. Saranga realized that the turtle that turned out to lay eggs on the beach could be one of the many baby turtles born in 2011, when the late Dasimane Venkata Kharavi of Maravanthe looked after the nests.
Mr. Kharvi had been a keeper of turtles along the Marawethe-Trassi beach for over 25 years before his demise in May 2021 at the age of 87.
The nest found at Trasi beach was the 10th of the current hatching season in the region, the ninth found on Monday near the Chakreshwari temple at Kodi beach in Kundapur.
Babu Mogaweera, Santosh, Gururaj Naik, Sri Saranga and Venkatesh from FSL and Ranjith Pujari from the Forest Department constructed the hatchery for the eggs with necessary protection.