Kendrapara: Eight sea-going fishermen were arrested on Saturday from olive ridley turtle concentration zones along the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary for illegal fishing activities.

The crewmembers of the fishing trawls, booked under the Wildlife Protection And Odisha Marine Fishing Regulation Act, were remanded to judicial custody.

The crackdown of unlawful sea fishing has been stepped up to make the turtles' concentration zone free from human interference.

Since November 1, fishing prohibition was imposed along the Dhamra-Devi river mouth and about 350 sea-going fishermen have been arrested. Besides 70 trawls were seized for Odisha Marine Fisheries Regulation Act violation, said an official.

Trawling is a major source of distraction for female olive ridley turtles that are spotted close to the beach near the Gahirmatha seawater ahead of the mass nesting season. The mass nesting has already commenced at Rushikulya river mouth.

The natural phenomenon is expected any time from now in Gahirmatha nesting ground.

The female turtles are found congregating in seawater within a kilometre distance the nesting beach.

The nesting ground at Outer Wheelers' Island of Gahirmatha is ideal for nesting with the beach getting elongated due to natural accretion process. The turtles may arrive en-masse very shortly as beach condition and weather are ambient now for the phenomenon, said divisional forest officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) forest division, Bimal Prasanna Acharya.

Last year, 6.04 lakh olive ridley turtles had turned up for their annual sojourn for mass nesting in March. The female turtles had emerged from the sea to crawl on to the serene beach, dig pits to lay eggs.

It should be noted here that the state government has clamped trawl fishing ban under the Orissa Maine Fishing Regulation Act along the 20km stretch from Dhamra river mouth to Devi river mouth from 1 November in view of the ensuing mass nesting of endangered olive ridley marine turtles.