Olive Ridley turtles die en masse along beach

The tranquil beach near Paradip Port Township has turned into graveyard for endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles as hundreds of decomposed bodies of these marine animals were spotted littered along a one kilo metre long shoreline.

The sighting of animals’ bodies has put the Forest personnel in jitters with the beautiful beach wearing a wretched look. It has triggered a disturbing trend before the onset of ‘arribada’, the mass egg laying phenomenon of ridley species.

Forest officials acknowledged reports of turtles dying en-masse near the Paradip coast. “The department has received reports of turtles’ bodies washed ashore along the Paradip beach. The department is initiating measures on a war-footing to arrest the mortality rate”, Mr. Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove Forest (Wildlife) Division, said.

“It’s a horrific sight. The motionless bodies of these aquatic animals are strewn along the sandy beach. The spectre of death commenced about four days prior to Dec. 10 and there have been greater accumulation of bodies with each passing day. The number could exceed in the coming days unless illegal trawling activities are curbed,” observed environment activist Sankhanad Behera.

The beach wears a ghastly look with bloated and decomposed bodies being eaten up by stray dogs. There was deep mark of injury on some of these dead species, he narrated.

“Pungent odour emanating from the beach has made the lives miserable for those visiting the beach. We are apprehensive that the heaps of decomposed bodies might trigger health hazard in Paradip”, he observed. As majority of bodies are yet to be buried, stray dogs have acted as scavenging agents eating up the bodies, he said.

This coastal patch had witnessed such spectacle of death of Olive Ridley turtles last year too, he informed this reporter.

As littered bodies are vitiating the beach environment, the municipal body has requested the Forest Department for expeditious clearing of animals’ carcass, said Mr. Sarada Prasad Panda, Executive Officer, Paradip Municipality.

Thousands of Olive Ridleys get killed along the Orissa coast every year by getting entangled in the nets of the mechanised fishing trawlers that operate illegally in the prohibited zones when lakhs of these endangered species congregate for mating.

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