The Hindu : Protect Olive Ridleys, panel tells Orissa

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Saturday, Mar 15, 2003

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Protect Olive Ridleys, panel tells Orissa

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI MARCH 14. The Central Empowered Committee (CEC), constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, to look into the death of Olive Ridley sea turtles along the Orissa coast, has directed the State Government to establish permanent camps and boat stations in the next few months for the protection of the endangered species.

In a set of guidelines issued on March 7, following its visit to Orissa, the Committee has suggested that the officers of the Coast Guard at Paradeep be notified as Authorised Officers under the Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act to empower them to seize and impound trawlers operating in the restricted zone where the sea turtles nest.

The Government has been given 15 days' time to implement the directions and send an Action Taken Report to the Ministry.

The CEC wants the Fisheries Department to suspend the licences of the boats not using Turtle Excluder Device (TED) and seize hundreds of mechanised boats operating without valid documents.

Over 3,000 sea turtles have died so far since they were first sighted along the coast in the third week of February. The Olive Ridleys come to the coast for nesting in February for a couple of months but are killed, primarily because of the use of trawlers by fishermen.

The CEC, headed by the former Environment Secretary, P.V. Jayakrishnan, was sent just soon after a Central team visited Orissa and had held elaborate talks with State Government officials and NGOs seeking their assistance in the preservation of sea turtles during the nesting season.

The Committee drew the attention of the Orissa Government towards a sum of Rs. one crore earmarked for turtle conservation lying unused with the Chief Wildlife Warden for the past four years.

Suggesting that the expenditure for the establishment of two well-equipped permanent camps, one each at Devi river and Rushikulaya, and two boat stations between Paradeep and Rushikulaya be borne by the Chief Wildlife Warden from the funds available, the CEC has recommended that in view of the excessive fishing being done in the area, all gill net boats operating within 5 km of the nesting sites should be banned for the next three months.

Official figures available say that 47,559 mother sea turtles have died in the past four years though it is pointed out that the death is not only because of the non-use of TEDs on the trawlers. About 12,777 mother sea turtles died in 2001-02 while the number was 15,628 in 1999-2000.

Ministry sources said 250 out of a total of 650 registered trawlers have been provided with the TEDs by the Government free of cost.

Importantly, awareness camps are being run to dispel the misconception among the fishermen that TEDs result in loss of fish.

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