Saving Olive Ridley turtles

Remember how Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda disappeared just one fine day? Sea Turtles have been around since the age of dinosaurs, but they might disappear if we do not conserve them. They are battling to survive because of harmful human activities in the world’s water bodies. A world in which sea turtles cannot live could soon become a world in which humans struggle to survive. 

The IUCN Red List classifies Olive Ridley, one of seven living marine turtle species, as vulnerable. They are fragile because of their distinct breeding patterns and the growing threat from human activity.

This sea turtle is named after its olive-coloured carapace - the hard upper shell. The Olive Ridley, like all other sea turtle species except the herbivorous Green Turtle, is an omnivore, eating jellyfish, snails, crabs, prawns, algae, and small fish.

The olive ridley is best known for its large nesting aggregations, known as arribadas ( a Spanish word for ‘arrival’) which include hundreds of females nesting on tiny areas of beach.

Around September, the olive ridley arrives from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian seas. Male and female turtles travel together for about 9000km. After about two months of mating, the males retire to deeper waters. The females stay, and after a month of gestation (the time between conception and birth), they begin nesting at the end of December or early January.

The turtles nest for three months - January, February, and March. They usually nest twice a year, and, occasionally, even three times. Each nest can hold from 50 to 190 eggs, with an average of 100. Hatchlings emerge after around 45-60 days. After 12 to 15 years, the hatchlings that survive to reach adulthood will return to the seashore where they were born to deposit their eggs.

The sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature inside the nest, which can vary from nest to nest and even within the same nest. Mass nesting is a wonderful phenomenon but they are also vulnerable to large-scale disruptions.

Olive Ridley and several sea turtles face numerous threats despite their tenacity. Human activities have a direct impact on sea turtles’ lives and habitats along with indirect threats such as climate change, marine debris and industrialisation. The ecological environment is largely affected by the loss of a significant number of sea turtles. Let’s take a look at some of the dangerous threats that sea turtles have been facing since time immemorial.