CANACONA
In a major boost to sea turtle conservation in the State, eight turtles visited beaches in Canacona on a single night and laid nearly 900 eggs on Wednesday.
These eight pits are the highest ever count on any single day since the Forest Department began to protect the endangered sea species in Canacona.
This has increased the turtle nests to 32 pits protected by Forest (Wildlife) at the twin nesting sites at Agonda and Galgibaga Turtle Rehabilitation Centres (TRC).
Two turtle nests found at Rajbag beach coast were excavated and about 201 turtle eggs were transplanted in two different pits at Agonda TRC Nesting Site.
Forest Rescuers picked up eggs from four turtle pits across different parts of Agonda’s 2.9 km long coastline in a drive from midnight to early Wednesday morning and transplanted them at the nesting site.
Two mother turtles visited the Galgibaga shore between 4.30 and 5 am and laid 100 and 88 eggs, which were later shifted to the Nursery Site as Pit 7 and 8. Presently, Galgibaga TRC, which is also Headquarters of Marine Range (South-Goa) is taking care of eight turtle nests, while Agonda TRC has 24 nests.
The Agonda shore is under the 24x7 observation of rescuers engaged by the Forest (Wildlife) department.
It is learnt that some fishermen noticed crawling marks on Rajbhag beach and alerted the forest rescuers from the Agonda TRC, which covers the coastal areas at Palolem, Colomb, Patnem and Rajbag.
A team later visited and tracked two turtle pits with 103 and 98 eggs respectively, and later shifted them to the Agonda TRC.
The Agonda TRC is presently protecting 23 of the 24 turtle pits at its Nesting Site.
Incidentally, the first pit protected at Agonda TRC on November 16, 2023 with 150 eggs did not yield the desired results as all eggs failed to hatch. It is believed heavy unseasonal rains all over Goa around the time have damaged the turtle eggs.
