MTN 63:S3-4 Nesting Ground of Turtles Threatened

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Nesting Ground of Turtles Threatened

Environmentalists from various countries fear that the world's largest nesting ground of Olive Ridley sea turtles -- located at Gahirmatha beach in Orissa -- is in imminent danger of being completely lost. At the core of this apprehension is the government's decision to build a fishing jetty at Talchua, some 10 km from Bhitarkanika Sanctuary, where the nesting ground is located. (Work on the Rs 85 lakh project has already begun and will be completed by next March). Recently, distinguished environmentalists from countries as far flung as Mexico, Ireland, Canada, and the United States have written separate letters to Orissa Chief Minister Biju Patnaik to abandon the project which is felt could lead to "an environmental disaster of global proportions", says Belinda Wright, member of the IUCN, who is at the forefront of efforts to ward off the threat. "We are not talking about a small matter here but of one of the world's great natural treasures. The biggest mass nesting ground, to which lakhs [lakh = 100,000] of Olive Ridleys come very year, could simply be wiped out."

In March 1991, 6.1 lakh female Ridleys (which, like all other sea turtles, is recognised as an endangered species) migrated to nest at Gahirmatha. The figure in 1992 was 3.2 lakh and the emerging hatchlings from this nesting were numbered at a staggering 350 lakhs. (Usually, Ridleys lay 100 or more eggs.) Naturalists describe the phenomenon which lead the enormous 40 kg turtles to come ashore in huge numbers through a genetically programmed instinct as the arribada (Spanish for arrival). Says Shekar Dattatri, the young Madras-based filmmaker and environmentalist who documented the arribada two years ago, "This is one of the few surviving naturalist spectacles in the world. Now, I fear this will be lost forever."

At the heart of such gloomy forecasts is the nature of the Ridleys, which are extremely sensitive to any disturbance. Until recently, the largest breeding grounds of the Ridley were in Mexico's Pacific coastline. However, as IUCN's Belina Wright points out, failure to adequately protect the coast has led the sea turtles "to virtually disappear overnight from that region." Dattatri fears that the Talchua fishing jetty -- which is expected to serve 500 mechanised vessels -- will threaten the Ridleys in at least two ways. First, it will only add to the unregulated fishing by trawlers and mechanised boats in the area, which often end up snagging and killing Ridleys. Moreover, the jetty is bound to create additional pressure on the mangrove forests in Bhitarkanika, which provide- a rich food source for the Ridleys. "Already, vast tracts of mangrove forests have been felled. The jetty will attract more people and cause more destruction," says Dattatri.

Such fears have led to worldwide concern. This April, the 30,000-member Earth Island Institute wrote to Biju Patnaik asking him to "reconsider building the proposed jetty and ... consider upgrading the (Bhitarkanika) sanctuary to national park status." As things stand, the Orissa government appears unmoved by such letters from international environmentalists. State minister for fisheries Surya Narayan Patra maintains that there will "be no danger to the Olive Ridleys from the Talchua jetty" -- a view endorsed by Himanshu Sekhar, secretary to the Department of Forests and Environment. Patra says that, as a measure of caution, the Orissa Marine Fisheries Regulation Act, 1982, will be amended to prevent operation of trawlers within a distance of 20 km from the Bhitarkanika and Talchua coastline. Moreover, the government is contemplating a ban on any type of fishing activity off Bhitarkanika between 15 December and 15 April -- the period when the Ridleys come to nest.

While Belinda Wright says she is delighted with the Orissa government's efforts at protecting the turtles, she points out that there is agreat difference between drafting and enforcing a law. The existing legislation prohibiting mechanised boats from fishing 5 km off the Gahirmatha coastline has not been very effective. Though there are no firm estimates of how many Ridleys get snagged in fishing nets, 1,000 dead turtles were reported on Bhitarkanika's beaches in 1991 alone., "I don't think policing the area will be very effective. The best way to ensure the safety of the Olive Ridleys is to move the jetty elsewhere," she maintains. Source: excerpted from theIndian Express newspaper, 10 September 1993.