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First, there is no evidence to support the claim that, in historic times, olive ridley turtles nested at arribada densities along a larger part of the coast or that significantly larger numbers nested. While possible, the statements in Hamilton’s book (Mohanty Hejmadi 2000) that Mohanty Hejmadi uses to support this claim only indicate a general nesting region and indicate “prodigious Number of Sea Tortoises”. Therefore this information is largely irrelevant to current conservation or management plans.

Second, arribadas have become somewhat unpredictable at Gahirmatha, but have in fact become more predictable at the southern beach of Rushikulya (Shanker et al. 2003; Tripathy 2005, 2008; K. Shanker unpubl. data). In the last decade, most arribadas have occurred between the second week of February and the last week of March (ibid.).

Olive ridleys do not nest en masse anywhere on the Orissa coast, as suggested by the author. While there may be a potential shifting of nesting beaches from Gahirmatha to Rushikulya, arribadas have been reported from few other sites in the last decade. No mass nesting has occurred at the Devi River mouth rookery, and apart from one or two recorded instances of mini arribadas (a few thousand turtles), these two sites remain the principal mass nesting beaches at this point (Shanker & Choudhury 2006; K. Shanker unpubl. data).

The role of hatcheries in the conservation of sea turtles at mass nesting sites is inexplicable. An average mass nesting event in Orissa involves 50,000 to 150,000 nests. Hatching success has been typically high, especially at Rushikulya. Moving 100 or 200 or even a thousand nests (well beyond what is practiced today) cannot conceivably have any impact.

Disturbingly, Mohanty-Hejmadi (2009) also follows each of her statements about Orissa by categorically stating that this prevents the exploitation of eggs in Orissa. Exploitation of eggs was first banned in the 1970s on the recommendation of Bustard (Bustard 1980). However, he only recommended a temporary ban on use of eggs till the levels of exploitation could be determined and generally favoured sustainable use. His student, Kar, now a long serving officer of the Forest Department, devotes a page and a table to the exploitation of adults and eggs in “The Turtle Paradise: Gahirmatha” (Dash & Kar 1990). These discussions, however, no longer occur amongst local conservationists. If anything prevents the use of eggs today, it is the deeply entrenched philosophy of protectionism promoted by conservationists in India and elsewhere. Indeed, there may be problems associated with consumptive use in Orissa, but these should be debated neutrally, and with respect to all cultural perspectives.

BUSTARD, H.R. 1980. Should sea turtles be exploited? Marine Turtle Newsletter 15:3-5.

DASH, M.C. & C.S. KAR. 1990. The Turtle Paradise – Gahirmatha. Interprint, New Delhi, 295 p.

MOHANTY HEJMADI, P. 2009. Comments on Mrosovsky’s suggestions for Orissa. Marine Turtle Newsletter 123:20-21.

MROSOVSKY, N. 2009. Ridleys in Orissa. Reply to Mohanty Hejmadi. Marine Turtle Newsletter 123:21.

SHANKER, K., B. PANDAV & B.C. CHOUDHURY. 2004. An assessment of the olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) nesting population in Orissa, India. Biological Conservation 115: 149 – 160.

SHANKER, K. & CHOUDHURY, B.C. 2006. Marine turtles in the Indian subcontinent: a brief history. In: Marine Turtles of the Indian Subcontinent (eds. Shanker, K. & B.C. Choudhury), pp. 3-16. Universities Press, Hyderabad, India.

TRIPATHY, B. 2005. A study of the ecology and conservation of the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) at the Rushikulya rookery of Orissa, India. PhD Thesis. Andhra University

TRIPATHY, B. 2008. An assessment of solitary and arribada nesting of olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) at the Rushikulya rookery of Orissa, India. Asiatic Herpetological Research 11: 136-142

Kartik Shanker, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, INDIA (E-mail: kshanker@ces.iisc.ernet.in)