TIRUPATI: In comparison to previous years, the breeding activity of Olive Ridley turtles have come down drastically this year. Last year 52,000 eggs were laid and the season commenced from January where as this year the turtles started laying eggs in February only. So far a total of 24,918 eggs were laid by the sea turtles.As many as 144 Oilve Ridley turtles were found dead this year during January and last week to February. They were killed accidentally during trawl boat and mechanised fishing.
As per rules, the fishermen are supposed to conduct fishing only beyond 8 km while using mechanised boats, because turtles are found between 3 to 8 km, from April to November, till they move towards the beach, by the end of December, for laying eggs and after March they return to the sea.Forest officers M Hima Sailaja, Nellore Conservator K Anandh, Kavali Sub-Divison officer Mangamma and Tree Foundation coordinator E Sandheep, working in breading activity for over a decade, hopes that the egg laying season may continue till the end of April.
Conservation of Sea-Turtle activity is increasing at the coastal belt and the local folk and fishermen community is actively joining as contract staff for four-months in breading activity.
As per the records of Wild life Management-Tirupati circle, number of hatcheries in Sullurpet, Nellore and Kavali division have increased this year. However, the number of eggs have drastically come down in comparison with last year. Insistent breading activity, conducted for the past five years, have made, the Forest staff, officials and locals along with fishermen community, experts in hatching.
The success rate of hatching have also increased by thousands in number and the success rate is over 90 per cent.The hatcheries in Gouri Puram, Kothuru and Ramachandra Puram in Vidavaluru mandal, Patha Palem in Bogolu mandal Lakshmi Puram and Vathuru in Kavali mandal, in Nellore sub-division ,together have 13,466 eggs.Hatcheries in Erranna ibba in Indukuru Peta mandal and Venkanna Palli, in Gudur mandal in Kavalli division have 1452 eggs. Newly added Tamil Patnam adjacent to Krishna Patnam port got 350 eggs. SrinivasaPuram, Pudi Kuppam and White Kuppam hatcheries are in Sullurupet sub-division and have 2,872 eggs.
However, the cold weather in Chittoor and Nellore districts, where summer season is not effectively visible is not suitable for hatching of eggs. So this time, the duration of laying of eggs extended a little bit, said Mangamma, Sub Division Forest Officer. The duration increased from 45 days to 54 to 59 days. Tree Foundation, a Chennai based NGO, is working on the same cause for several years, she said.The Forest Department has hired workers from local folks. Tree Foundation identified the workers and gave them training in basic conservation and breading activity. There are a total of 28 watchers in Nellore division, 8 workers at Kavali area and 12 at Sullurupet division.