On one summer evening, two years back, me and my friends rushed to visit Morjim beach. The excitement was of something we were about to see for the first time in our lives. The Forest Department, the guardians of sea turtle nesting site were going to release the Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchlings that night to the sea. It was a delight to witness the process of baby turtles crawl towards their home-the SEA.
Olive Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivaceae) are the original tourists of Goa much before humans became one. Sea turtles are amazing creatures, they spent their entire lives in sea swimming thousands of kilometers but they are born from eggs laid by the mother on land (sand).
According to scientific theories it’s the ability of sea turtles to detect the earth’s magnetic fields that help them navigate back to their motherland. But exactly how they do it is still a mystery. Goan beaches are birth place of Olive Ridley sea turtles, these includes Agonda, Galgibag, Morjim, Mandrem beaches. Earlier the popular Calangute and Baga beaches were also included but over the years human tourists have outnumbered the sea turtles.
The male Olive Ridley sea turtles never come back to land. However the female Olive Ridley sea turtles always return to the very same beach they were born to lay upto 120-150 eggs each time. The nesting season lasts October-April. Mother turtle digs a nest in the sand, lays the eggs, bury them and leaves. The temperature at which the eggs are hatched plays an important role in determining the gender of the turtle, higher temperatures (above 30 degree Celsius) results in females and lower temperatures (28 degree Celsius or below) in males. Full moon nights are preferred by the female turtles to lay eggs as it draws water to the highest high tide which ensures safety of her eggs from inundation during all other tides and also reduces her efforts while movement from water to sand with her pregnant self. The eggs hatch in 45-70 days depending upon the circumstances in which they remain. Nowadays due to increasing human threats than natural threats, efforts are taken by the Forest department and other responsible individuals to keep the eggs safe and then release them in waters. Ideally after coming out of the egg, the hatchling directly marks its way to the sea depending on the single light source, the moon that brightens up the water surface guiding the baby turtles to sea.
Today sea turtles face several threats that threaten their existence. The primary threat to the sea turtle at the beach is Light and Sound. Lights from shacks, mobile flash lights, fireworks or any other form of light can disrupt the sea turtle nesting activity. The mother sea turtle gets disturbed from unnecessary light, this may result in her abandoning that particular nesting site. Also lights other than moonlight disorient and mislead baby hatchlings way back to the sea. Noise creates too many vibrations on land and sea which causes disturbance to the sea turtle nesting cycle. Threats like sand mining, irresponsible tourism, improper disposal of waste especially single-use plastic creates a major havoc to the lives of sea turtles.
Activities like use of laser lights on beach, beach driving, loud music etc are also a huge problem. We need ecologically sound decisions to ensure continuation of Olive Ridley sea turtles visiting Goa. More shacks on beach only cater to more problems such as more light, loud music and garbage. The number of shacks must be zero on turtle nesting beaches of Goa.
The turtles have successfully survived for atleast a hundred million years outliving dinosaurs but evolution has not prepared them from human made climate change, changing environment and pollution. The Olive Ridley sea turtles of Goa needs the space and safety with more stringent rules, for them to continue breeding, so that we and the future generations of Goa get to observe and study this marvellous marine species forever.