There was good news for the project connected with satellite tagging of Olive Ridley Sea turtles as the first one of these reptiles, named Prathama, had reached 250 kilometres north of Velas Beach in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra.
The scientists connected with this project expect the creature to leave these waters soon and move towards Diu in the next few days.
It may be recalled that five turtles were tagged with platform transmitter terminals (PTTs) on different dates. These PTTs were affixed on the hard shell of the turtles, called carapace with epoxy resin. The five were named as Prathama, Savani, Vanashree, Rewa and Laxmi. While the first two were tagged on January 25, the third was tagged on February 13 while the last two on February 16.
In a first for the West Coast of India, an Olive Ridley Turtle female was successfully satellite tagged today in Velas, Maharashtra. A total of 5 Olive Ridley Sea Turtles are to be satellite tagged under this project
Press Note: https://t.co/UNRcbLMTdu@vrtiwari1 @wiiofficial1 pic.twitter.com/W0K3jWIyiA
— Mangrove Foundation of Maharashtra (@MangroveForest) January 25, 2022
The project has been launched by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, and Maharashtra Government’s autonomous body, the Mangrove Foundation. The objective is to monitor the movement of the turtles to comprehend their migratory pattern of these solitary nesting creatures who are found along Maharashtra’s coast.
At present the tagged turtles are within 100 kilometres from the shoreline and are yet to make foray into deep sea. Prathama and Savani have moved to the north from Ratnagiri, Vanashree and Rewa are journeying to the south.
Contact with Laxmi has been lost and researchers feel that either the transmitter is not functioning or the turtle has died.
It is believed by the scientists that turtles remain in the shallow waters waiting for the ocean currents to take them to deep sea down Lakshadweep or move in the direction of Oman and return later in October-November.
