Operation Oliva for Olive Ridley Turtles

Operation Oliva for Olive Ridley Turtles

Part of: GS Prelims and GS -III – Conservation 

In news

• Recently, the Indian Coast Guard has pressed into service an aircraft for ‘Operation Oliva’ to protect Olive Ridley turtles.

What is Operation Oliva

• It was initiated in the early 1980s
• Every year, Operation Olivia helps protect Olive Ridley turtles as they congregate along the Odisha coast for breeding and nesting from November to December.

Olive Ridley Turtles

• These are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.
• They are carnivores 
• They migrate thousands of kilometers between feeding and mating grounds in the course of a year.
• They are best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.
• Habitat:
  • They are found in warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
  • The Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is known as the world’s largest rookery of sea turtles.
• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• CITES: Appendix I
• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I

Other Initiatives

• To reduce accidental killing in India, the Odisha government has made it mandatory for trawls to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs), a net specially designed with an exit cover which allows the turtles to escape while retaining the catch.

Source: Olive Ridley Project