Team Goemkarponn
CANACONA: The season’s first turtle nesting was recorded at Agonda beach early Thursday morning, marking the official start of the new nesting cycle along the Canacona coast.
According to forest officials, a mother turtle emerged from the sea at around 5.45 am, surveyed the beach, and then began excavating the sand to create a pit. By 5.50 am, she had laid her clutch of eggs on the expansive 2.9-km stretch of Agonda beach before returning to the sea.
Forest guards, who had been monitoring the turtle from a distance, later recovered 145 eggs from the natural nest. The eggs were carefully relocated to Pit No. 1 at the Turtle Rehabilitation Centre (TRC) in Agonda, where they were secured inside a specially prepared man-made pit for safe incubation.
The South Goa Marine Range (SGMR), headquartered at Galgibaga, operates two major nesting and protection sites — Agonda TRC and Galgibaga TRC — both recognised as key conservation zones for turtle nesting in the state.
Confirming the development, SGMR Officer In-Charge / RFO Rajesh Naik said Thursday’s event marks the first nesting of the new season at Agonda.
