Cyclone Titli and rains following it have started to degrade the mass nesting beach at Rushikulya river mouth in Odisha’s Ganjam district. Huge quantities of debris and waste materials washed away by flood waters has begun to get deposited on the coast.
Continuous presence of this waste on the beach can be a threat to the mass nesting site as it can reduce the looseness of sand as well as its chemical property which may dissuade the olive ridleys to nest here next year.
Rains following landfall of Titli cyclone on October 11 morning has caused a major flood in Ruhsikulya river and it has overflowed into several human habitats in Ganjam district. Waste materials of every kind along with huge amount of straw, weeds and broken trees got washed to the river mouth. This waste being poured into the sea is getting accumulated on the long stretch of sandy beach near the river mouth.
According to Rabindranath Sahu of Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee (RSTPC), the seven-kilometre stretch of olive ridley nesting beach from Purunabandha to Prayagi is now covered by waste and debris carried by flood waters of Rushikulya river.
A major clean-up
Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ashis Behera accepted large scale deposition of waste materials at the olive ridley mass nesting beach. He hoped that in the next few months tidal action of the sea may clean up the beach to some extent. “The biodegradable waste will decompose fast in salt water but we are worried about the plastic, polythene and other non-biodegradable waste that continues to pile up at the coast near the river mouth”, said Mr. Behera.
Forest officials feel cleaning up the beach before the mass nesting time will be a tedious job because of this waste deposition this time.
Rushikulya river mouth beach is a major nesting site of the endangered olive ridley turtles. This year mass nesting occurred here twice. In February it witnessed its highest ever mass nesting of olive ridleys numbering 4,45,091. Surprising all, mass nesting recurred at this coast from April 18 to 22, while mass hatching of earlier laid eggs continued. In the second phase, around 37,000 turtles nested here. It was this rare incident of double mass nesting at a single nesting site occurred because the beach was too clean and conducive for nesting.