Clean nesting sites and conducive atmosphere are some of

the reasons attributed to the record number of Olive Ridleys visited the rookery for nesting, experts said. This time, the turtles started nesting about a fortnight earlier in the rookery, forest officials said. Forest�officials made elaborate arrangements for smooth and safe nesting of the turtles.�The entire area was divided into 32 sectors. Forest personnel and local volunteers have been deployed in each sector for counting the eggs. They also provided protections to the eggs in absent of their mother turtles, said DFO. After laying eggs, the female turtles go to the deep sea without waiting to see the hatchels, which generally emerged around 45 days of the nesting.� "The local people in the area are cooperating with the forest personnel to protect the eggs," said Rabindra Nath Sahu secretary of the Rushikulya Sea Turtles Protection Committee. Besides Rushikulya river mouth, the turtles also nest in Gahiramatha beach and Devi river mouth in the state. But the mass nesting in other two places are yet to start.