AGONDA: It was on New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2021), that the pristine Agonda Beach witnessed its season’s first Olive Ridley turtle which waded past the seashore to dig the first pit and lay 118 eggs.
The excited Ajay Pagi, (temporary status of labour) associated with Forest Department, Cotigao said that out of the 118 eggs, 88 baby turtles emerged on Friday evening and by night they were all set into the sea for the onward journey of their new life at sea.
Locals along with tourists from France and India witnessed this rare spectacle to much cheer as the baby turtles waded into the waters amidst the darkness.
Dominik Bane (Germany) and Marta Kanikowska (Poland) both e-commerce executives on holiday at Agonda Beach witnessed this event for a second time, the last being three years ago.
Both were praising the Forest Department for their effort. The Forest Department staff keeps a vigil along the Agonda coast around December to March as the turtle nesting begins when the heavily pregnant mother turtle swims ashore to lay her eggs.
She then digs a pit and lays her eggs, finally she covers the eggs and heads back to the sea, never to return to her eggs which hatch on their own. The eggs are then collected carefully and placed in specially dug pits, covered and protected from stray dogs, cattle and other predators so that they hatch safely by the end of their incubation period.
The first batch still has around 20 more eggs which may hatch any time from now as the 50-day incubation period has just concluded.
A few local and foreign tourists watched the operation even as the 19th mother turtle came up after sundown but went back into sea.
So far 18 pits have been secured by the Forest Department at Agonda Beach.
“My Green Ambition, Goa” — (Towards A Sustainable Environment) has been documenting the Olive Ridley turtle stories from Goa.
