New Delhi: On April 20, four Olive Ridley turtles became the first sea turtles in India to be released into the sea, each with a satellite transmitter strapped to its back, to enable a group of scientists led by the American turtle expert Dr Jack Frazier to track their movements. They were released into the sea at the mouth of Orissa’s Devi river, as part of an effort to unravel the mystery of the sea turtles’ long-range migrations and foraging expeditions through the oceans.The experiment is a joint effort of the wildlife wing of the Orissa Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and is sponsored by the Indian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Orissa has been chosen for the telemetry operation because Gahirmatha on the Orissa coast is the largest rookery in the world for Olive Ridleys, which also breed and nest at certain other sites along the coast, including the mouths of the Devi and Rishikuliya rivers.

The transmitters, costing US$ 2,000 apiece, will send signals to a weather satellite whenever the turtles come to the surface, and a French company named ARGOS will download the relevant data from the satellite. Once the data is distributed to the project scientists (the cost of data acquisition from one transmitter for a period of one year is US$ 2,000), it can be mapped and analysed to trace the paths of the turtles.

Wildlife scientists have studied Olive Ridleys for several years in order to trace their migratory and foraging routes, but have failed to come up with anything other than anecdotal accounts, which merely indicate that the turtles migrate south after nesting. But a truly effective conservation programme for them in all their habitats across the international seas can be devised only if scientists and conservationists can track their routes through the oceans, using telemetry.