Olive Ridley hatchlings released into sea

Visakhapatnam: Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals (VSPCA), an NGO based in Visakhapatnam, on Sunday released some of the Olive Ridley hatchlings into the sea. Realising the need to conserve bio-diversity, Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals (VSPCA) has been educating the fishermen community for the over two decades on the role of sea turtles on maintaining marine eco-system. However, the poaching of sea turtles practiced by the fishermen community has come down due to increased awareness.

Identified first in the year 1996, Olive Ridley sea turtles built mere 23 nests and laid 2,500 eggs at beaches across the city. With the constant efforts of VSPCA in association with Andhra Pradesh Forest Department and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds from NTPC, five hatcheries have been developed at the RK Beach, Jodugulla Palem, Appu Garh, Pedda Nagamaiah Palem and Tantidhi.

The hatcheries now protect over 765 nestlings and over 79,000 eggs. A total of 6.50 lakh eggs were released from 1996 to 2018. Founder of VSPCA, Pradeep Nath said that around 800 nests were expected to be found this year.