Berhampur, Feb 16: School students along with local volunteers have cleaned about 4km-long beach from Gokharakuda to Podampeta, near river Rushikulya mouth off Ganjam coast, the famous mass nesting site for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles.
Over 100 students of six high schools of the nearby villages together with the forest personnel and wildlife activists picked up around three tones of debris from the beach in around three hours, to facilitate the mass nesting of the sea turtles, likely to take place in the last week of February.
Most of the students, who have taken part in the clean drive, organised by the Odisha Marine Resources Conservation
Consortium (OMRCC), were the members of the eco-clubs of their respective schools, said Shankara Narayan Bej coordinator, district eco-club.
Several school teachers, Michael Peter of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), activists of the Rushikuya sea turtle protection committee and local fishermen also took part in the drive.
Different competitions in conservation of Olive Ridley turtle were also held among the students.
Cleaning of the beach before the mass nesting was one of the strategies adopted by the Forest department for safe and smooth nesting of the sea turtles.
In a science project on “emerging problems in conservation of Olive Ridley sea turtle at Rushikulya mouth and its solution,” the students of GK High School Subalaya, had pointed out the mass nesting might face hindrance due to pile up of garbage in the beach site.
After Gahiramatha in Kendrapara district, the Rushikulya River mouth in Ganjam district, has emerged as the second largest rookery for the Olive Ridley turtles.
