“The last time we saw day time settling of olive ridleys along this site was in 2013. For the most part, they hit on the sea shore for settling just during the evening. This March was unique for us as we saw the species visiting the site around evening time and in any event, during the day, in similarly great numbers,” Amlan Nayak, locale timberland official (DFO), Berhampur (Odisha), told Mongabay-India.

Rushikulya is arranged in the Ganjam region of Odisha along the Bay of Bengal and is quite possibly the most noticeable areas for olive ridley mass settling, a yearly component where female turtles show up on the sea shore to set up their homes and lay their eggs.

The olive ridley turtle is viewed as the most bountiful ocean turtle on the planet, with an expected 800,000 settling females yearly. The olive ridley is around the world conveyed in the tropical districts of the South Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. They are recorded as powerless in the IUCN Red rundown and are likewise ensured under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.  As indicated by untamed life specialists, in India, while states like Maharashtra, Goa, and the seaward Andaman islands witness inconsistent settling of olive ridley turtles, Odisha is the lone state in India that sees mass settling of olive ridley turtles.

Rushikulya and Gahirmatha are the two chief mass settling destinations now in Odisha. This year settling at Rushikulya has been somewhat deferred because of late heavy rains around there. It as a rule begins in the third seven day stretch of February and proceeds until the principal seven day stretch of March, authorities said. This year, mass settling began from March 21 and has proceeded till March-end, in any event, during the day. As per Nayak, the Rushikulya rookery facilitated 330,000 olive ridleys during this mass settling stage.