Big drop in sea turtles visiting Rameswaram shores for nesting this year

Rameswaram: Yes you can see the Himalayas from Saharanpur, the canals of Venice are crystal clear and fish have made a comeback to the Ganga.

But not all news from nature has been good ever since the coronavirus has locked up Homo sapies.

Here at Rameswaram, foresters and marine biologists are rather disappointed that there was a sharp drop in the number of sea turtles coming to shore to nest this season.

The turtle nesting season on the beaches of Rameswaram usually runs from December to March. This year it has been a letdown, as the local Forest Department range office and marine biologists have discovered.

During the 2019 nesting season, forest personnel said they collected 10,458 eggs laid by turtles in the sands close to the seashore. The turtles cover the egg pits and move back into sea.

Forest department staff keep a watch over these nesting spots. When the hatchlings begin to come out of the sand pits, they are taken and left in the sea.

However, this year they found only about 6,000 turtle eggs at the usual nesting spots in the stretch from Dhanushkodi to Arichalmunai,.

Climate change factors like hotter winds along the Rameswaram coast this year, sea erosion and shrinking of the beaches are, according to marine biologists, some of the reasons for the much reduced visitation by sea turtles this year.

Meanwhile, a good rain lashed Rameswaram island on Tuesday morning, bringing relief to the people from the hot 'Agni Nakshatram' weather.