• Area: The Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary and the adjoining coastal waters, extending up to 20 km into the Bay of Bengal off the Kendrapara coast.
• Legal basis: The Odisha Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Odisha Marine Fishing Rules, 1983, as stated by Divisional Forest Officer Varadaraj Gaonkar of the Rajnagar Mangrove Forest and Wildlife Division.
• Enforcement: The Marine Fisheries department enforces the ban. Bhitarkanika Forest Division personnel will coordinate with the Indian Coast Guard, Marine Police and the Fisheries department, and surveillance and patrolling will be intensified.
• Awareness: The Forest department will run awareness campaigns among fishing communities to seek their cooperation.
• Significance: Gahirmatha is regarded as the world’s largest rookery of Olive Ridley sea turtles, where thousands gather each season for the mass-nesting phenomenon known as “Arribada”.

• Olive Ridley turtle: Lepidochelys olivacea, listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and CITES Appendix I.
• Gahirmatha: Located off the Kendrapara coast within the Bhitarkanika area. It was declared a marine sanctuary in 1997 and forms part of the Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem, which is a Ramsar site (2002).
• Other nesting sites in Odisha: Rushikulya river mouth (Ganjam) and the Devi river mouth. Odisha’s mass-nesting season is usually between February and March.
• Arribada: A Spanish word meaning “arrival”, used for the synchronised mass nesting of Ridley turtles.
• Conservation measures: Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) are required on trawl nets to prevent turtle deaths. Operation Kachhapa by the Wildlife Society of Odisha protects turtles, and a uniform 61-day marine fishing ban applies during the monsoon (breeding season for fish).
• Fisheries law: Fisheries comes under the State List (Entry 21), so states regulate fishing in their territorial waters.

Olive Ridley turtles, Arribada, Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, Bhitarkanika, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Turtle Excluder Devices and Operation Kachhapa are recurring themes for OPSC Prelims (Environment, Odisha Current Events) and OPSC Mains GS Paper III (Environment, Biodiversity and Conservation).

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