Hundreds of sea turtles dead on Odisha coast

Turtles dying en masse on Odisha coast
KalingaTimes 5 Jan 10;

The sighting of bloated and motionless bodies of Oilve Ridley sea turtles lends credence to belief that unlawful trawling operation despite prohibition is in full swing along the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.

Bodies of dead turtles are sporadically dispersed along the stretch of beach from Dhamra to Paradip coast. The unofficial estimate put the toll at more than 5,000 while the forest officials prefer to restrict the toll at 671.

“The turtles' death toll is on the lower side this time. The vigil and surveillance on trawl fishing is stepped up. That's why, the marine visitors are comparatively safer this year”, Prasanna Kumar Behera, divisional forest officer, Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) forest division, on the other hand, claimed.

However, the ground reality is grim and it hardly substantiates officials' claim.

The wildlife activists argue that turtles are dying en-masse in several strategic locations and the accidental death of the mute animals is due to uninterrupted trawling.

“Though marine fishing has been banned along the Gahirmatha water territory under OMFRA, 1982, trawl fishing has become a daily ritual. Turtles are getting hit by trawl propeller and are getting killed. The animals are getting entangled in the mono-filament nets that are being used by fishing trawls. The mute species are dying of asphyxiation,” said Sudhansu Parida, an activist of people for animals.

The beaches at places like Satabhaya, Pentha, Agarnasi and Barunei has turned into a graveyard for the Olive Ridley sea turtles. Any day, one would come across the ghastly sight of rows of decomposed bodies of these delicate marine species with pungent smell emanating from the carcasses, Parida told.

The forest department officials admitted the sighting of turtle carcasses at these places. However, they declined to elaborate on the death toll.

Rare turtle sighting on Sabah’s Pulau Mamutik

KOTA KINABALU: The rare sighting of a hawksbill turtle laying eggs at Pulau Mamutik in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park has led to hopes that the endangered species is making a comeback.

The unusual occurrence on Dec 26 was witnessed by staff of Borneo Divers during a barbecue session for trainee divers at the island, according to Borneo Divers managing director Clement Lee.

“It came as a surprise to all of us. We have never encountered sea turtles coming to the (Mamutik) beach to lay eggs,” said Lee, whose company has been conducting Divemaster courses at the island for the last 25 years.

“We were having a barbecue when we spotted the turtle coming very close to the crowd. We had to ask everyone to keep their voices low and switch off the lights to allow the turtle to find a spot to lay her eggs (near a young coconut tree),” he said, explaining that turtles were sensitive to noise and light when they are about to lay eggs.

Lee said the turtle returned to the sea two hours later after laying her eggs.

“We were all so excited. We watched the turtle as it made its way back to the sea,” he said, adding that they immediately alerted the authorities who promptly fenced up the area and documented the time of the event.

Sea turtles lay between 80 to 120 eggs during each landing.

“It takes about eight weeks to hatch,” Lee said.

Pulau Mamutik is the smallest of five islands under the popular marine park. It is about six kilometres from the city.

'Greater Phuket' Wins Back a Giant Leatherback

SOMETHING remarkable is happening on the ever-remarkable Andaman Sea coastline.

The tsunami shore has in the past 12 months seen boatpeople pushed out to sea to drift and sometimes to die, and also been declared ''the best five-star destination of 2009'' by the New York Times.
And now, a big mother leatherback is back.

Weighing as much as 300 kilos and stretching to two metres wide, this giant has been coming ashore in the past few weeks at one specific location in ''Greater Phuket'' regularly, to lay eggs.

Marine biologists have been recording the visits of the leatherback to the Phang Nga beach. She only comes back to lay eggs every 25 years, and her time is now.

Remarkable old photographs of giant leatherbacks laying eggs, once thought to be a record of a natural process that would never be seen again, are no longer simply a part of history.

New photographs are being taken as the leatherback comes ashore in a 12-day cycle. In December, she left 99 eggs in the sand. In early January, she left 113.

Biologists know she will be back soon to leave more eggs.

And the hatchings should begin to take place from February 24, with the second batch due to hatch in early March.

The leatherback will return five or seven times, every 12 to 15 days, each time depositing more eggs.

Parrob Plannga, head ranger of the Forests Office in Phang Nga, says the site of the hatchings is being watched day and night to protect the eggs.

''Last year we had just one leatherback turtle appear and lay eggs just once,'' he told Phuketwan ''This turtle is larger and has so far kept to her egg-laying pattern.''

Leatherbacks go back 150 million years, he said. ''They will return to the beach where they hatched just once every 25 years,'' he said.

''We can't care for their eggs in a hatchery because of the characteristics of the hatchlings.

''The young leatherbacks don't swim in circles, they swim in straight lines, so they keep hitting the walls, and eventually die.''

Biologists are concerned that the leatherbacks may be laying more female eggs than males because they can tell from the laying-point on the beach whether each batch is predominantly male or female.

The first year of so of the life of most Andaman coast turtle species remains a mystery.

Once home to five species, Phuket no longer has any turtles hatching on its shores because of increasing coastal development, noise and light.