Odisha carries out satellite tagging of Olive Ridley sea turtles
KENDRAPARA/BHUBANESWAR: The Forest department in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun has recently fitted satellite transmitters, also known as Platform Transmitter Terminals (PTT), on six Olive Ridley turtles at Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary in Kendrapara.
The tagging, carried out between December 21 and 24, includes three males and three females, and aims to track the turtles’ nearshore movement patterns and gather critical ecological information.
Principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife) Prem Kumar Jha said, “Large numbers of Olive Ridleys are now mating in the sea. We tagged three mating pairs to study their movement patterns. This research will help the government formulate conservation policies for Olive Ridleys and benefit all stakeholders, including local fishing communities. We will also tag nine turtles at Rushikulya soon.”
Previously, Olive Ridleys were tagged with flipper tags to identify returning turtles during mass nesting. However, this method did not provide data on their actual movement paths or other essential details. Satellite telemetry studies, first instituted in Odisha in the early 2000s, marked a significant advancement from beach-based monitoring to ocean-scale ecological research. These studies, undertaken by WII in collaboration with the Forest department, track long-distance movement patterns and inform conservation strategies.
Following a tripartite MoU between the PCCF (Wildlife), WII and Dhamra Port Co Ltd, the satellite telemetry programme was re-initiated last year. Two turtles were tagged in 2024: one exhibited nearshore movements around Wheeler Island, Babubali Island and adjacent spits before being found in the Bhitarkanika mangrove habitat on April 1, 2025, the other undertook a long-distance migratory journey eastward into the open ocean, later approaching nearshore waters off Tamil Nadu and eventually travelling south toward waters east of Sri Lanka.