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Record Leatherback Turtle Nests Confirmed at Great Nicobar Project Site
Officials confirmed that many sea turtles laid eggs at Galathea Bay on Great Nicobar Island.
They counted 997 nests during the latest nesting season.
Most of the nests belonged to leatherback turtles, which are very large sea turtles.
The number of leatherback nests was the highest ever recorded there.
Workers moved the counted nests to protected hatcheries.
There may have been even more nests because some were not found or moved.
A large port is planned at the same bay.
Scientists and conservation groups say building it could harm the turtles’ nesting beach.
The National Green Tribunal previously dismissed challenges to the project and said the site was not a highly protected CRZ-1A area.
An RTI response confirmed 997 turtle nests at Galathea Bay during the 2025–’26 season.
The records included 889 leatherback nests and 108 Olive Ridley nests relocated to protected hatcheries.
The leatherback total is the highest recorded at Galathea Bay since monitoring began about four decades ago.
Galathea Bay is the proposed site of a roughly Rs 50,000-crore transshipment port within a larger Rs 92,000-crore project.
Scientists and conservationists warn that construction could damage a globally important nesting beach, while the National Green Tribunal dismissed legal challenges to the project.
- Who
- The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Forest Department, turtle researchers, conservationists, and the National Green Tribunal are central to the report.
- What
- An RTI response confirmed record turtle nesting at Galathea Bay, including 889 leatherback nests and 108 Olive Ridley nests.
- Where
- Galathea Bay on Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- When
- The nests were recorded during the 2025–’26 nesting season; the National Green Tribunal dismissed project challenges in February.
- Why
- The nesting data is significant because a major transshipment port is proposed at the same site and could affect the beach.
Conservation Concerns
Project and Tribunal Position
Ecological significance
Conservation Concerns
Researchers and conservationists say the record nesting confirms Galathea Bay is a globally important leatherback reproductive habitat that should receive the highest protection.
Project and Tribunal Position
The National Green Tribunal dismissed challenges to the project and held that no part of the project site was a CRZ-1A area.
Impact of port construction
Conservation Concerns
Scientists warn that dredging, breakwaters, reclamation, light pollution, and vessel traffic could destroy or make the nesting beach inaccessible.
Project and Tribunal Position
The government-backed infrastructure plan continues to include a transshipment port, airport, power plant, township, and tourism facilities.
Possibility of relocation
Conservation Concerns
One biologist said turtles may shift to nearby beaches, but conservationists warned that alternative nesting beaches, including those in Sumatra, may not be safe because of poaching.
Project and Tribunal Position
The possibility that leatherbacks can shift nesting beaches was cited as a potential ecological response, although the report does not present a formal project response on this issue.
Key facts
- Total recorded nests
- 997 nests at Galathea Bay
- Leatherback nests
- 889, the highest recorded at the site
- Olive Ridley nests
- 108
- Earlier high
- The 2022 season recorded 649 leatherback and 31 Olive Ridley nests
- Proposed port cost
- Approximately Rs 50,000 crore
- Larger project cost
- Approximately Rs 92,000 crore
- Proposed development area
- About 130 square kilometres, including an airport, power plant, township, and tourism facilities
- Bay alteration
- Planned breakwaters would reduce the bay opening from about 3,000 metres to 300 metres
Quotes
Maslim As-singkily
Marine turtle ecology and population genetics researcher and IUCN species specialist group member
“Galathea is an exceptionally productive reproductive habitat today. The 889 nests are particularly striking compared with the other leatherback nesting populations I have assessed across the Northeast Indian Ocean [Sumatra, Malaysia and Thailand].”
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“The 2026 nesting records of the Leatherback make it imperative that the Galathea nesting ground is safeguarded under any circumstances”
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Anonymous sea turtle biologist
Sea turtle biologist who commented anonymously on the proposed port
“Constructing a port directly within Galathea Bay will involve extensive dredging, construction of breakwaters, coastal reclamation, light pollution, and vessel traffic. This will directly destroy or render inaccessible one of the region’s important leatherback nesting beaches.”
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Sources
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