Dazzle of lights keeps turtles away from Mandrem beach

PANAJI: Bright illumination at Mandrem beach, it largely appears, is keeping away flippered visitors from this site, otherwise considered an ideal spot for turtle breeding activities. Last week, a lone Olive Ridley turtle visited an isolated stretch of beach for nesting.

Though a one-km stretch of this beach which is located in Pernem taluka — Morjim being the other designated turtle nesting site — has no shacks, hardly a single nesting is witnessed here annually. On the other hand, Agonda, a crowded beach in Canacona taluka, is more frequently visited with 28 nests reported in the 2016-17 season and 19 during the 2017-18 season.

Morjim receives eight to 12 nestings of flippered visitors during each season. Galgibaga in Canacona, too, sees an almost identical number of flippered visitors. “Bright illumination on either side of this isolated beach distracts the turtles,” a source said.

In the past decades, Olive Ridley turtles would surface on any part of the sandy coastline. But with tourism activities becoming a hurdle for their free movement, only isolated stretches were being visited for nesting.