In a record, the officials from the Wildlife and Forest Range here collected 450 Olive Ridley eggs from four nests in Dhanushkodi and Arichalmunai on Wednesday.
The officials said that with the day’s collection, they have collected a total of 8,400 eggs so far this year from pockets including Kannirajapuram, Mookaiyur, Oppillan, Yerwadi, Sethukarai, Pudumadam, Mandapam, Ariyaman, Azhagankulam, Atrangarai, Puduvalasai, Pamban, Kundugal and Dhanushkodi respectively.
The first nesting was on January 11, said Venkatesh Forest Ranger here and added that the sea turtle eggs were being kept at Mukundarayar Chatram.
Attributing the rise in the number of collection of eggs to sustained awareness given to the fishermen to pull their nets after 5 a.m. as the turtles usually come to the shore to nest around 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.
A few years ago, the personnel had released 22,000 Olive Ridley hatchlings, which was a record, the official said.
Source: Read Full Article