Record leatherback turtle nesting reported at Great Nicobar amid controversial port project

Data released by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Forest Department via an RTI application confirms that Galethea Bay hosted 997 turtle nests in the 2025-26 nesting season, of which 889 were leatherbacks and 108 were Olive Ridley turtles. This represents the highest leatherback nesting count recorded at the site since monitoring began about forty years ago, surpassing the previous peak of 649 nests in 2022. The numbers were corroborated by marine-turtle experts, who note that the beach is now comparable to major Western Pacific nesting sites such as Wermon Beach in Indonesia.

The revelation comes shortly after the National Green Tribunal rejected challenges to a Rs 50,000-crore transshipment port, part of a Rs 92,000-crore mega-infrastructure scheme that includes an airport, power plant and township. The port’s construction would shrink the bay’s opening by 90%, involving extensive dredging, breakwaters and increased vessel traffic, which scientists say could destroy or render inaccessible this critical habitat. Conservationists argue that the loss of such a key nesting beach threatens the already vulnerable leatherback population, which has limited alternative sites in the region.