While turtles' disappearance has left wildlife officials baffled, formation of a mid-sea sand bar along the movement corridors of these animals emerged as a major source of distraction for the sea creatures in Gahirmatha area along the Odisha coast.
The endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles skipped mass nesting trip to Gahirmatha this year. There were such occasions in the past years also. The turtles had skipped mass nesting at the beach in 1996, 1997, 2002 and 2008.
The sand bar formation coupled with steep erosion of the beach might have disoriented the turtles. Besides, human interference within the breeding turtles' habitation corridors was on a large scale this year which did no good to mass nesting prospects, Rajnagar DFO Kedar Kumar Swain said.
The beach at Nasi-2 Island of Gahirmatha has undergone sea erosion. The area profile of the beach has also changed. This apart, the face of the nesting ground has turned steep and sharp inconveniencing the turtles in climbing up to the nesting ground, he said.
The death of a 62-year-old man following attack by a wild boar on October 18 had triggered violent protest by local settlers as a mob had gone on rampage and set the Gahirmatha forest range office on fire. This sort of mob attack on forest personnel had slowed down the turtle protection exercise, said officials.
