Olive Ridley turtles laid eggs 12 times on Vagator beach; Demand for conservation center
Siolim: Olive Ridley sea turtles laid eggs 12 times on Vagator beach between December 2024 and April 2025. According to the forest department, a total of 1227 eggs were found on Vagator beach during this period and they have been shifted to the turtle conservation center at Morjim pernem.
This season, it was found from their footprints that the turtles came to the beach 8 to 10 times and returned without laying eggs. One reason behind this may be the lack of a nutritious environment on the beach. However, the forest department observes that since no gravel party was organized on Vagator beach this year, the turtles must have got a calm and natural environment.
Sometimes the beach was damp and sometimes the rocky area prevented some turtles from laying eggs. Earlier, between January 2024 and April 15, 2024, Olive Ridley turtles had laid eggs on Vagator beach 20 times, out of which 17 were laid in March alone. A total of 1868 eggs were found during that period.
Turtles laid eggs only 4 times in 2021-22 and 3 times in 2022-23. Out of the 364 eggs found in 2022-23, 173 hatchlings were released into the sea.
Since there is already a turtle conservation center at Morjim, the eggs found on Vagator beach are moved there. However, if there is such a center on Vagator beach as well, the eggs can be kept safe here.
Since there is no gravel party in Vagator, the turtles got a favorable environment and they laid eggs in large numbers. Against this backdrop, Ramesh Naik, Chairman of the Anjuna Caisua Biodiversity Committee, has demanded that Vagator beach be declared a sensitive area and a turtle conservation center (hatchery) be set up here. He said that correspondence has also been sent to the relevant authorities for this.
Ramesh Naik has also appealed to the government, the forest department and the Goa Coastal Management Authority to maintain night patrols during the turtle breeding season.
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