Velas Turtle Festival - Part 4/5 - Conservation

Over the 2 days that we stayed in Velas, we had an opportunity to interact with the organizers and villagers to understand the Turtle Festival as they call it. Of the 5 species of Marine turtles seen on Indian Coast, 4 species are found in Maharashtra coast line. Olive Ridley turtles are found  across entire Maharashtra coast line. Interestingly, of all the Olive Ridley turtles that lay eggs in the Maharashtra coast line, 40% of them are found in Velas. It was observed that many eggs were eaten by dogs, seagulls, eagles, crabs  or stolen and traded. Adult turtles were killed for oil or meat. These turtles were identified to be endangered species and the villagers and Sahayadri Nisarga Mitra, NGO decided to put an end to this and conserve the turtles. It all started twelve years ago and have improved the way the conservation happens over the years.

Baby turtles crawling their way to the sea

Each year adult female Olive Ridley turtles come ashore to lay eggs in nests any time from November to January. Each female can lay between 100 and 150 eggs. During this period the villagers and volunteers (supported by NGO) search the coast covering about 2.5 kms every morning tracking the claw marks left by the turtles. When they locate the nest, they dig out the nest, measure the depth of it and collect the eggs. The data of each nest is recorded. The collected eggs are taken back to the safety enclosure constructed on the beach, artificial nest is dug measuring same depth and eggs are carefully kept in the nest and is filled with sand. They also keep a scale indicating the date so that the hatching time can be calculated easily. Sometimes the villagers sleep on the beach during the breeding season.

Turtle Festival

Hatching of eggs happen take 45-65 days and it is observed that only 40-50% of the eggs hatch. When the hatching begins in a nest, it would take 3-4 days for all the turtles to come out. Towards the end of hatching period, the nests are covered with a basket. Since the baby turtles cannot withstand the heat in the day or coldness of the sand in the night, the turtles are safegaured in the baskets in the enclosure and are released at 7 AM in the morning and 6 PM in the evening every day. The festival starts at the estimated first hatching and lasts for about a month. Click here to read about our journey to Velas and click here to read about the turtle release.