Nearly 1.7 lakh Olive Ridley hatchlings released into Arabian Sea this season

Olive Ridley. Pic/Mohan Upadhye

The annual nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles along Maharashtra's Konkan coastline continues to show encouraging results, driven largely by conservation efforts involving forest officials and coastal communities.

Season data

Data from the 2024-25 nesting season (November-May) recorded 2929 nests and 2,74,842 eggs across beaches in Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts. From these, 1,71,245 hatchlings successfully emerged and were released into the Arabian Sea, marking an overall hatching success rate of 62 per cent.

Olive Ridley hatchlings being released into the sea at Velas beach along Maharashtra's Konkan coast. Pics/Satej Shinde

Among the districts, Sindhudurg recorded the highest success rate at 77.47 per cent, followed by Raigad at 54.12 per cent and Ratnagiri at 47.13 per cent.

For the ongoing 2025-26 nesting season (November-March), officials have so far documented 1182 nests, with 1874 hatchlings already released. Several nests remain under incubation, and officials expect the numbers to rise in the coming weeks as more hatchlings emerge.

Community effort

According to data shared by Deputy Conservator of Forests Kanchan Pawar from the Mangrove Cell, the figures reflect the continuing impact of community-led conservation programmes.Every season, volunteers, forest staff and villagers patrol beaches to locate turtle nests and protect them until the hatchlings safely reach the sea.

2024-25 Nesting season snapshot

Season: November 2024-May 2025
Total nests: 2929
Eggs recorded: 2,74,842
Hatchlings released: 1,71,245

District-wise data

Raigad
Nests: 55
Eggs: 5480
Hatchlings: 2966
Success rate: 54.12 %

Ratnagiri
Nests: 1417
Eggs: 1,33,128
Hatchlings: 62,743
Success rate: 47.13 %

Sindhudurg
Nests: 1457
Eggs: 1,36,234
Hatchlings: 1,05,536
Success rate: 77.47 % (highest)

2025-26 Season (so far)

Total nests recorded: 1182
Hatchlings released: 1874

Raigad
Nests: 17
Hatchlings: 0

Ratnagiri
Nests: 679
Hatchlings: 1230

Sindhudurg
Nests: 486
Hatchlings: 644

Beaches covered
Raigad: 6
Ratnagiri: 31
Sindhudurg: 26

Did you know?

Along the Konkan coast of Maharashtra, hundreds of volunteers, forest staff and local villagers quietly patrol beaches at night, searching for fresh tracks of a nesting sea turtle. Their efforts play a very important role in the protection and conservation of the Olive ridley sea turtle

Olive Ridley fact

A female Olive Ridley turtle lays around 100-150 eggs in one nesting, and the eggs take 45-55 days to hatch.

Overall success rate: 62%