The Hindu : National : Group calls for conservation of Oliver Ridley turtles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 27, 2005

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National

Group calls for conservation of Oliver Ridley turtles

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR, FEB. 26. Several international conservation groups and biologists have joined hands with the fishing community to fight for the conservation of the Olive Ridley sea turtles and for better management of marine resources on the Orissa coast.

Forming the Orissa Marine Resources Conservation Consortium (OMRCC), environmental groups such as Greenpeace, Worldwide Fund for Nature-India and several Indian voluntary bodies, said conservation of marine resources, including sea turtles, could not be achieved without the cooperation of all stakeholders, in particular, the local fishing communities. The OMRCC has opposed the State Government's proposal to declare Devi river mouth and Rushikulya river mouth areas as sanctuaries. The creation of such sanctuaries would be detrimental to the livelihoods of the local communities and would not contribute to the long-term objectives of conservation.

At a press conference here on Friday, the grouping said the State Government had so far not involved the traditional fishing communities despite the latter's demonstrated willingness to contribute towards sea turtle conservation.

Moreover, the Fisheries Department recently had come out with a "mischievious notification'' that allowed mechanised trawlers to ply 10 km closer to the coastline. The Department's move would have an adverse impact on traditional fishermen while it would benefit trawler operators, said K. Alleya, secretary of the Orissa Traditional Fishworkers' Union.

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