CANACONA
With two Olive Ridley turtles visiting the Agonda beach on Friday, the Agonda Turtle Rehabilitation Centre is home to 909 eggs in eight different pits protected by the forest department.
With four other pits located at the South-Goa Marine Range headquarters at Galgibaga, Canacona taluka presently has 12 pits with as many as 1,283 eggs.
According to sources, two Olive Ridley turtles visited the Northern and Southern sides of Agonda beach almost simultaneously at about 4 am on Friday, laying 121 and 92 eggs, respectively.
Forest department personnel who were on night duty, swiftly shifted the eggs to the nursery site of the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre.
In a similar development, two Olive Ridley turtles visited two different locations at Agonda beach at about 3 am on January 12 and laid 119 and 106 eggs, respectively.
Incidentally, Agonda had received 9 turtle nesting sites, but the first set of 89 eggs laid on December 28, 2022, was shifted and protected at the Sought Goa Marine Range Headquarters in Galgibaga.
Though Galgibaga has four turtle nesting sites, only one Olive Ridley turtle arrived at the beach to lay 135 eggs on January 12.
One set of 57 turtle eggs was shifted from Baina in Vasco on January 11 and was placed in a pit in Galgibaga. Another set of 93 eggs was shifted from the neighbouring Talpona coast on December 18, 2022, while two other protected pits are from Agonda and Baina-Vasco.
Forest department personnel anticipate more Olive Ridley turtles to lay eggs at some of the well-known traditional spots along the Galgibaga coast.
The eggs usually take between 52-55 days to hatch.
