BHUBANESWAR: After nearly a month’s wait, the annual mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles kicked off at Rushikulya rookery in Ganjam district early morning on Sunday.
Forest officials said over 10,000 Olive Ridleys crawled ashore overnight to lay eggs in the sands along the rookery, turning the Ganjam coastline near Rushikulya mouth into a living spectacle.
Regional chief conservator of forests (RCCF), Berhampur circle, Vishwanath Neelannavar said the ‘arribada’ phenomenon started as early as 3 am in the morning. More than 10,000 turtles laid eggs on the first day, he said.
The egg-laying activity was reported in at least 30 out of 50 segments of Purunabandha-Bateshwar stretch of the Rushikulya rookery.
Neelannavar said if the weather remains conducive, the mass nesting will continue over the week. Parts of Ganjam, including Bhanjanagar, recorded moderate rainfall. However, there have been no showers at the Rushikulya mouth. “If rain occurs at the nesting site, it will harden the surface sand and affect the beach temperature, hampering the process of egg-laying to some extent,” the RCCF said.
In 2025, the Rushikulya rookery had witnessed turnout of a record nine lakh Olive Ridley turtles. Between February 16 and 23 the same year, it had recorded a turnout of over seven lakh. However, this year, mass nesting has been delayed by nearly a month except for some sporadic nesting of only about 5,704-odd turtles till March 14.
Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, world’s largest breeding ground for the Olive Ridleys in the state, still awaits the arribada this year. Forest department officials, however, said the current season’s delayed nesting remains consistent with established historical patterns and is a natural response to prevailing environmental conditions.
PCCF (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden (CWW) Prem Kumar Jha said such environmentally-driven delays have been documented in multiple seasons and do not necessarily reflect negative impacts on turtle populations or nesting outcomes.
Jha said the Olive Ridley turtles nesting season along the Odisha coast typically spans from February to April, with the timing of mass nesting known to exhibit inter-annual variability influenced by a range of oceanographic and environmental parameters. “Historical records indicate that in 2021, mass nesting occurred relatively late, between March 27 and April 2, 2021, while in 2006, arribada was documented even later, from April 4 to 7, 2006. These observations clearly establish that late season nesting events fall well within the species’ natural phenological range,” the PCCF said.