File picture of Olive Ridley turtles on Gahirmatha beach

Paradip, March 24: Wildlife personnel are in a spot of bother with Olive Ridley turtles yet to arrive at Gahirmatha rookery for mass nesting this year.

As the mass nesting has got considerably delayed, apprehension of the marine animals skipping their annual sojourn at the tranquil beach looms large. Rapid fragmentation and erosion of the beach could be distracting the delicate creatures from turning up. This apart, trawl fishing and human interference might have affected their privacy, wildlife experts say.

These issues have come under with no sign of “arribada”, a Spanish term that describes these yearly exercise of millions of turtles coming here to lay eggs.

Wildlife lovers and forest personnel are a worried lot at the moment.

“We are still hopeful that the mass nesting will occur. There are instances in the past years when these animals arrived to lay eggs en-masse in March. We are still optimistic of arribada taking in a day or two,” said divisional forest officer, Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) forest division, Kedar Kumar Swain.

Each year, millions of Olive Ridley turtles turn up to lay eggs during January-February in world’s largest-known rookery of these species along the Gahirmatha beach.

There have been instances in the past when the turtles had arrived in the first week of March. But they have never come later than that. The delay could be due to the extended spell of winter this year. Cold weather, accompanied by strong wind, prevails at the nesting sites. This is turning out to be less conducive for the turtles.

Once cold and windy weather conditions recede, turtles may emerge from the seawater, Swain said.

Mystery shrouds the behaviour and habitation pattern of these marine species. Research is yet to throw much light on these. They continue to prefer the Odisha coast for breeding and nesting. But nothing much is known about where they go once they leave Odisha coast after laying eggs.

Various factors could be responsible for delay in emergence of turtles this time. But experts are only making guesses at the moment.

Besides the extended winter, sea erosion that has paved the way for rapid topographical changes in the 12km Gahirmatha beach might be distracting the turtles. Fragmented beaches with its area reduced considerably over the years might be proving less congenial for en-masse emergence of turtles for arribada. This apart, the face of the nesting ground has turned steep and sharp inconveniencing the turtles in climbing up to the nesting ground, say experts.