Great Nicobar Island: Galathea Bay sees record turtle nesting, contradicting NGT stance

Photographs and reports from Great Nicobar Island last month suggest that sea turtles, including the Giant Leatherback, have nested on the beaches of Galathea Bay in record numbers this season.

This is particularly significant given the February 16 order of the National Green Tribunal dismissing challenges to the construction of a mega-infrastructure project on the island and asserting that no part of the project site is a CRZ-1A area.

CRZ-1A is a category of coastal land that has maximum protection under law on account of its ecological importance – determined by the presence of marine turtle nesting beaches, ground nesting birds, mangroves and coral reefs, among others. Major development projects are explicitly not allowed in such areas.

The photographs show two turtle hatcheries at Galathea Bay with sticks and boards giving basic details such as date of nesting, the species of the turtle and the number of eggs collected. The most recent nesting record visible in the photograph is of February 13 with one each for two species of turtles – a Leatherback turtle and an Olive Ridley.

The most recent nesting record visible in the photograph is of February 13 with one each for two species of turtles – serial number 899 of a Leatherback turtle and serial number 900 of an Olive Ridley. This indicates that at least 900 nestings have taken place here already this season.

While the exact species-wise break up is also not currently available, 90% of these are likely to be Leatherback , given the recent history records of turtle nesting here (see table below).

While Leatherbacks in general are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, particular sub populations like in the Pacific, for example are considered critically endangered.

A turtle hatchery is a common practice on many nesting beaches, where wildlife authorities relocate eggs laid by the turtles to protect them, particularly from predation by animals such as monitor lizards and feral dogs.

While the photographs are from mid-February, nesting was reported as late as the first week of March. This along with the fact that not all nests are always relocated to the hatcheries, suggests that the total number of nestings could be even higher.

The petition before the National Green Tribunal had challenged the November 2022 environmental clearance granted to the Rs 90,000-crore-plus mega infrastructure project with the centrepiece being the Rs 45,000-crore transshipment port in Galathea Bay.

The port entails the construction of multiple berths and breakwaters that will reduce the opening of the bay by 90% from the current 3 km to just 300 meters. The siting of the port here has raised serious concerns on account of the inevitable ecological damage that it would cause.

One of the main contentions of the National Green Tribunal order that dismissed objections and opposition was that no part of the project area including Galathea Bay “is in CRZ-IA area”.

From all available records Galathea Bay qualifies for this category on several counts – four species of sea-turtles nest on the beaches in the bay, there are luxurious stands of mangrove forests along the water’s edge and it also houses more than 20,000 coral colonies, according to the records of the Zoological Survey of India.

Galathea Bay had been declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1997, but was then denotified in 2021 to facilitate port construction here. It was listed as one of the country’s most significant turtle nesting sites in India's National Marine Turtle Action Plan published in 2021 and is also recognised as perhaps the most important Leatherback nesting site in the northern Indian Ocean.

Leatherback nesting numbers for Galathea Bay for the recent years obtained from the Andaman and Nicobar Forest Department confirm the same – 649 in 2022; 505 in 2023 and 619 in 2024. These figures are perhaps the highest since monitoring began here. about four decades ago (see table 2) This trend has continued this year as well.

“Turtle nesting in such larger numbers this season challenges the NGT claim that this is not CRZ-1A,” said a researcher aware of the ground situation. “It’s like the turtles decided that they had to stand up for themselves and ensure they were counted before it is too late.”

Queries sent to four different forest officials did not receive a response.

Pankaj Sekhsaria is the author/editor of seven books on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the latest being The Great Nicobar Betrayal (Frontline, 2024) and Island on Edge - The Great Nicobar Crisis (Westland, 2025)