CANACONA: This year is advancing towards the next, but till now not even a single Olive Ridley Turtle has visited the beaches in Canacona taluka for nesting.
Habitually, turtles are spotted clambering up the white sands and depositing eggs on the clean beaches at Galgibagha and Agonda by November, but this season the marine reptiles are yet to arrive.
The past few years have witnessed the late arrival of this endangered species which travels thousands of kilometres to arrive at the destination of their birth, to lay eggs every year. Last year saw Olive Ridleys visiting Agonda beach as late as mid January.
In the past the nesting season used to be between November to March during which the turtles were spotted at the beaches at Galgibagha and Agonda digging pits to lay their eggs. But during the past few years the nesting season has been delayed by over two months with mass nesting happening only after January and ending as late as June.
Environmentalists in Canacona are concerned over the delay in arrival of turtles for nesting some of them attributing the delay to change in climate across the globe.
These two beaches in Canacona taluka reserved for turtle nesting is manned by forest personnel who gather all the eggs and keep them at temporary incubation centres. Normally after 40 to 45 days of incubation, the eggs hatch and the guards on duty release them safely into the sea.
