With humans locked inside, vulnerable sea turtles thrive on deserted beaches in Brazil and India

With empty beaches due to the coronavirus, newly hatched turtles are thriving with little to no human interference at their nesting sites.

Fewer people in their nesting zones means more hatchlings

It’s turtle nesting season around the world and there is some good news from environmentalists. While we’ve all been socially isolating ourselves, the Olive Ridley Sea turtles in India and the Hawksbill Sea Turtle in Brazil have been making the most of the deserted beaches to nest in peace. While experts and government officials doubt the lockdown has had any impact on the nesting activities of the sea turtles, what the lockdown has done is reduce the casualties of the sea turtles and the damage their eggs face under normal circumstances, and allow the authorities to take better care of the nesting sites.

Due to coronavirus the public were unaware of hatchings in Brazil

Photographs taken by government workers in Brazil, the only people to witness the event, showed about 97 tiny Hawksbill turtles making their way down the beach and into the Atlantic waves. 

The wildlife officials were the only humans present when the endangered hawksbill sea turtles hatched in front of them, according to a news release from the city.

Paulista’s environmental secretary, Roberto Couto, said the town was home to four of the five types of turtle found along Brazil’s coastline: the hawksbill, the green sea turtle, the olive ridley turtle and the loggerhead turtle. More than 300 turtles have hatched there this year.

Couto said the animals normally lay their eggs from January each year and that the hatchlings emerge in April or May. “It’s really beautiful because you can see the exact instant they come out of the eggs and … watch their little march across the beach,” Couto said. “It’s marvellous. It’s a wonderful, extraordinary feeling.

“This time, because of coronavirus, we couldn’t even tell people it was happening.”

Source: TheGuardian

The last time India saw daytime nesting of Olive Ridleys on this site was in 2013

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in India, 407,194 turtles laid eggs in the marine sanctuary in the country’s eastern state of Orissa from 14 to 21 March, 2020.

The coast of Odisha in India is one the largest mass nesting site for the Olive Ridley, along with the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica. But due to predators, survival rates can be as low as two per 1,000 hatchlings.

While this is their usual nesting season, it of significant interest that the mass total nesting took place during the day after nearly seven years. The last time India saw day time nesting of olive ridleys along this site was in 2013.

Usually flocks of tourist visit the sight to witness the wondrous event. However this year with no tourists, there has been little to no human interference to the nesting site.

“The female turtles take about 20 years to sexually mature and produce eggs. We hope that one reason we are seeing this increase is because the baby turtles that were born on this same beach two decades back, are now old enough to come back and lay their eggs,” Bikash Ranjan Dash, the divisional forest officer of the park, told local newspapers.

Local government officials taking care of the sea turtles told Mongabay-India that the daytime nesting along the Rushikulya rookery was recorded after seven years.

“The last time we saw day time nesting of olive ridleys along this site was in 2013. Usually, they come on to the beach for nesting only during the night. This March was special for us as we saw the species visiting the site at night and even during the day, in equally good numbers,” Amlan Nayak, district forest officer (DFO), Berhampur (Odisha), told Mongabay-India.

Source: MongabayIndia

While not related, lockdown allows authorities to improve care for turtles in India

This event is not directly related to the current Covid-19 lockdown in India, say experts:

Most experts and government officials deny the lockdown has had any impact on the nesting activities of the sea turtles.

“I do not think the lockdown period can have any impact on the nesting activities of the olive ridley turtles. But what the lockdown can do is that it can reduce the casualties of the sea turtles or the damages their eggs undergo in normal days. However, in the absence of human movements, pest attacks and attacks from other animals, can increase as well,” S.N. Patro, an environmentalist from Bhubaneswar and the president of Orissa Environment Society, told Mongabay-India.

Lockdown allows authorities to improve care for turtles:

Nayak also rebutted speculations doing rounds on social media that link the impact of the imposed lockdown on the movement and nesting activities of the turtles, including the turtles “reclaiming” the beaches.

“We already have regulated movement of humans close to the nesting areas at Rushikulya. We do not allow people to go too close to the nesting hotbeds. But the advantage of lockdown was that we could divert our workforce more towards cleansing the debris on beaches and counting the nesting activities. When tourists come, part of our manpower is diverted to regulate and manage them,” Nayak explained.

Wildlife Institute of India researcher Bivash Pandav also asserted that lockdown has had no impact on mass nesting of turtles.

“If the turtles were indeed responding to the lockdown then they should have been nesting at Gahirmatha all the time where the beach is permanently locked down, due to inaccessibility and presence of defence establishment. This is totally absurd and too much imagination by some people. Turtles strictly respond to certain environmental variables like tidal conditions, wind direction, lunar phase, and nest in mass accordingly,” Pandav told Mongabay-India. 

Source: MongabayIndia

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