Officials of the Forest Department officials so far released 4,32,587 hatchlings of Olive Ridley turtles into the Bay of Bengal by May end this year.
“The activity of collecting of eggs, hatching them and releasing the young turtles into sea is continuing in some districts,” said Principal Chief Conservation of Forests (PCCF-Head of Forest Force) Y. Madhusudhan Reddy.
The Forest Department, in association with some NGOs has taken up the mission to collect the eggs of the turtles, preserve and hatch them along the coastal belt.
“Officers will conduct awareness programmes in villages close to the coast on protection of Olive Ridley turtles, which are protected under Scheduled I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972,” said a Forest Officer involved in protecting and nesting the eggs.
“We are collecting the eggs in the coastal villages, have arranged protected nesting places and hatch them. Later, we collect the hatchlings and release them into the sea safely,” the PCCF said.
Olive Ridley nesting has been arranged at Visakhapatnam, Coringa, Nellore, Prakasam, Krishna and other districts in the State, Mr. Reddy said.
Avanigadda Forest Range Officer (FRO), K.V.S. Raghava Rao that about 50,000 hatchlings have been released at Jinkapalem, Koduru, Island and other places in Krishna district this year.
“Night beats have been arranged along the coast to protect the turtle eggs from jackals, birds and dogs. Fencing has been arranged around the nesting places on the sea coast. The survival percentage is good,” the FRO said.
“We have seen the young turtles crawling into the sea. Forest officers brought the hatchlings in a basket and released them,” said a ninth class student, Venkatesh of Koduru village.
