Thousands of carcasses of Olive Ridley sea turtles are lying at the Satabhaya beach under the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, one of the largest rookeries of the species, in the ongoing turtle nesting season. Foul odour from dead turtles has polluted the whole of Satabhaya region, said Satabhaya sarpanch Sasmita Das. DFO of Rajnagar Mangrove Forest PK Behera informed that this year only 1,587 Olive Ridley carcasses have been sighted in the sandy beaches under Gahirmatha sanctuary. In the last couple of days, 88 Olive Ridley carcasses have been sighted by the forest department at the Satabhaya beach. Sources said more than 1,200 turtle carcasses were spotted in the sandy beaches of Satabhaya a couple of days ago. Later, the forest department buried the carcasses in the sandy beaches after the locals of Satabhaya alerted the forest department as foul smell emitting from the carcasses was making the whole atmosphere unhygienic and causing inconvenience to the villagers. Though protected under a Central law, in the past five years over 30,000 turtles have either been mangled by trawler propellers or trapped in fishermen's nets. The turtle mortality rate is estimated at more than 10,000 per year, said environmentalist Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO). The endangered Olive Ridley turtles, protected under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, grow up to 75 centimeters (25 inches) in length and the turtle is found in the tropical regions of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The turtles get killed in the nets of mechanised fishing vessels and trawlers. During the mating season, which starts from December and continues till March, turtles congregate in lakhs for Arribada, the Spanish term for mass nesting, in the sandy beaches of Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary under the Bhitarkanika National Park. Though the State Forest Department has banned fishing within 20 km radius of the sea coast, illegal fishing still continues in the banned zone as the forest department has failed to disburse fishermen from entering the prohibited zone for fishing. If the Gahirmatha rookery is stated to be the largest rookery, it also appears to be the largest graveyard in recent years. The beaches, instead of being beacons of new life, have turned into mass graveyard due to illegal fishing who come in giant trawlers, alleged the turtle conservationists.