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Bhubaneswar, Jan. 22: The Orissa coast is once again dotted with carcasses of the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles, thousands of which have been washed ashore after allegedly being killed by mechanised fishing boats.

Dead Olive Ridleys have been spotted in large numbers at Gahirmatha, the Devi and Jatadhar river mouths, Harishpur, Chilika coast and Puri, said Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa.

In the past 14 years, more than 1,30,000 turtles have been found dead on the Orissa coast, claims the wildlife activist. Last season, 9,000 turtles were killed while the figure till December 2006 was 5,753.

Chief wildlife warden Suresh Mohanty, however, claimed before The Telegraph that there had been no abnormal turtle casualty this year. Till January 10, only 1,029 dead turtles had been counted along the entire Orissa coast, which is comparable to the corresponding figure of the last season, he said.

Before 2002, around 15,000 turtle casualties used to be reported every year. The annual toll has come down to 3,200 over the past three years due to intensive patrolling by the forest department and the coast guard, he claimed.

The wildlife official said fishing by trawlers inside the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary has been banned and the personnel manning the patrol boats seize the vessels found flouting the rules.

The wildlife activist, however, alleged that hundreds of fishing boats from Kharnasi, Jamboo, Talchua, Dhamra and Kasaphal operate daily inside the marine sanctuary "without any restrictions".

The turtle congregation is now breaking up and there is little chance of mass nesting, he feared.

Reports from Kendrapara district said the situation had worsened at Gahirmatha after the forest guards refused to go on patrolling duty following the arrest of a colleague who accidentally killed a fishermen last month.