Olive Ridley Turtles GS- 3 Conservation 

28 Dec Olive Ridley Turtles GS- 3 Conservation 

Olive Ridley Turtles- Today Current Affairs

Scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) are researching out tagging of Olive Ridley turtles at three important mass nesting sites – Gahirmatha, Devi River mouth and Rushikulya. The research was undertaken in Odisha after a span of about 25 years and 1,556 turtles had been tagged.

Key Points

Significance of tagging: The sciencetific tags affixed to turtles are non-corrosive, which can be easily removed later and they do not harm the turtle in any way. The tags are uniquely numbered containing information details such as the name of the organisation, country-code and email address. If researchers trace the turtle in other countries/regions and come across the tagged turtles, they will email their location in longitude and latitude to researchers in India. There is an established network working on turtles. It would help them trace the migration path and places followed by them visited by the marine reptiles after congregation and nesting.

Olive Ridley Turtles: The Olive Ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.They are carnivores and get their name from their olive colored carapace. Ridley turtles are best known for their unique mass nesting, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs such nesting pattern is called as Arribada

Habitat: They are found in tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. In India, Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is known as the world’s largest colony of breeding animals of olive ridley turtles. The Hindu Analysis.

Protection Status: It is protected under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Scheduled 1 which prohibits their hunting. Internationally they are under IUCN Red List: Vulnerable category. They are also covered under CITES: Appendix I category.

Threats: Today Current Affairs

• Marine water pollution and increasing waste.The Hindu Analysis.

• Human Consumption as seafood: They are extensively hunted in the coastal south asian countries for their meat, shell and leather, and eggs.

• Plastic pollution: An ever-increasing debris of plastics, fishing nets, discarded nets, polythene and other garbage dumped by tourists and fishing workers.

• Fishing Trawlers: Overexploitation of marine resources by use of trawlers often violates the rule to not fish 20 kilometers within a marine sanctuary.

   

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plutus ias daily current affairs 28 December 2021

Anshum Verma

Plutus IAS Current Affairs Team Member