Recently, the Coast Guard of India has launched an operation named "Operation Olivia" to protect the Olive Ridley turtles of the Odisha coast, which are endangered.
About Operation Olivia
- Every year, the Indian Coast Guard’s “Operation Olivia”, initiated in the early 1980s.
- It aims to protect Ridley turtles as they congregate along the coast of the Odisha coast for breeding and nesting from November to December.
- It also seizes unlawful trawling activities.
- From November till May, round-the-clock surveillance is conducted utilizing the assets of Coast Guard like fast patrol vessels, air cushion vessels, interceptor craft, and Dornier aircraft to enforce the laws near the rookeries.
- The Coast Guard devoted 225 ship days and 388 aircraft hours from November 2020 to May 2021 to protect 3.49 lakh turtles that laid eggs along the coast of Odisha.
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Olive Ridley Turtles: Features
- They're the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles.
- They got their name from its olive green coloured carapace.
- They have a varied diet including lobsters, crabs, tunicates, jellyfish, shrimp, fish, and fish eggs. In the open ocean, they eat anything they find.
- In the course of a year, they migrate thousands of kilometers between feeding and mating grounds.
- Best known for their unique mass nesting known as Arribada, where thousands of females come together to lay eggs on the same beach.
Olive Ridley Turtles: Habitat
- They are found in the tropical regions of the South Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
- The world's largest rookery of sea turtles is Odisha's Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary.
Olive Ridley Turtles: Protection Status
- Under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is listed as vulnerable.
- All the five species of sea turtles that are found in India are included in Schedule I of the Convention of International Protection Act, 1972.
- These five species are also included in Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that prohibits trade in turtle products by signatory countries.
- Laws have also been formulated by the Odisha for protecting Olive Ridley turtles, and the Orissa Marine Fisheries Act that empowers the Coast Guard as one of its enforcement agencies.
According to the Coast Guard Officer, "Studies have found three main factors that damage Olive Ridley turtles and their eggs - heavy predation of eggs by dogs and wild animals, indiscriminate fishing with trawlers and gill nets, and beach soil erosion.”
Olive Ridley Turtles: Threat
- Along the coasts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal, dense fishing activity like ocean-going trawlers, mechanized fishing boats, and gill-netters pose a severe threat to turtles.
- They are mainly poached for their meat, shell, and for their eggs.
- Increasing debris of plastics, fishing nets, discarded nets, polythene, and garbage dumped by tourists and fishing workers.
Olive Ridley Turtles: Nesting habits
- The Olive Ridley consists of extraordinary nesting habits including mass nesting known as arribadas.
- The Odisha coast (480-km-long) has 3 arribada beaches at Gahirmatha, the mouth of the Devi river, and in Rushikulya, where about 1 lakh nests are found every year.
- The Coast Guard officer explained that “Sea turtles generally return to their natal beach, or where they were born, to lay eggs as adults."
- Mating occurs in the offshore waters of the breeding grounds and during season females come ashore to nest several times.
- They crawl ashore and dig a flask-shaped nest of about 1.5 to 2 foot deep. Lay 100 to 150 eggs in each clutch.
- In about 7 to 10 weeks, hatchlings emerge from their nests together.
The officer said "Between the arrival of the mother and the hatchlings’ retreat to the sea, they go through various challenges. It is estimated that only one in a thousand survives to adulthood."
So, now you may have come to know that "Operation Olivia" aims to protect Olive Ridley turtles and is launched by the Indian Coast Guard.
Source: thehindu
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