KENDRAPARA: A satellite-tagged Olive Ridley turtle reached Andhra coast after navigating more than 1,000 kilometers in the Bay of Bengal, traversing sea waters of Sri Lanka, Pondicherry, and Tamil Nadu in 51 days.
Scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), in collaboration with the Forest department fitted platform transmitter terminals or satellite transmitters on the carapaces of two female Olive Ridley sea turtles on Gahirmatha beach during mass-nesting to track their routes. The turtles were released in sea on March 17. While one turtle lost its PTT, the other successfully reached Andhra Pradesh waters on May 8, said the principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) Prem Shankar Jha.
“The transmitter sends geographic location data each time the turtle surfaces. Satellite tracking helps us map sea turtle migration routes, foraging areas, and nesting grounds,” added Jha.
In 2021, an Olive Ridley turtle tagged as 03233 was released at Gahirmatha. It reached Maharashtra’s Guhagar beach in Ratnagiri district on January 31, 2025 and laid eggs after swimming nearly 3,500 km, which baffled turtle researchers.
A satellite GPS transmitter costs around Rs 10,00,000 due to which it is not possible for the Forest department or any wildlife organisation to install it on the carapaces of large number of turtles. Flipper tagging, a low-cost method is also used to study marine turtles by attaching metal tags to their flippers. These tags help researchers track turtle movements. A flipper tag costs only Rs 100. All the tags are marked with a serial number, mobile number, said Dr Basudev Tripathy, wildlife biologist and officer-in-charge at western regional centre of Zoological Survey of India, Pune.
Between 2021 and 2024, researchers tagged approximately 12,000 turtles at Rushikulya and Gahirmatha rookeries. In 2022, five tagged Olive Ridley turtles of Odisha were spotted in Sri Lanka, while two were found on Tamil Nadu’s coast in 2024.
A proposal to tag 100,000 turtles at Gahirmatha and Rushikulya from 2026 to 2031 has been submitted to the Forest department. It will help understand the migration patterns, nesting habits, and survival rates of these marine creatures and support conservation efforts, added Dr Tripathy.
