The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Poachers turn conservators

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Monday, Apr 19, 2010
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Poachers turn conservators

Ramesh Susarla

— Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

Six-hour-old Olive Ridley hatchlings being released into sea at Lankavanidibba in Guntur district.

LANKAVANIDIBBA (GUNTUR DT.): Fishermen neither knew nor cared about protecting the endangered Olive Ridleys till January 2010 in the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary spread over 19,481.60 hectares.

And it was not a surprise for Conservator of Forests A.K. Sinha and his team when they found 40 carcasses of these lovely sea animals on February 5.

Like tigers and elephants, the turtle is protected under Schedule-I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

But only a handful of fishermen used the Turtle Excluding Devices. While some hunted them for meat, many others consumed raw turtle eggs with the belief that they would provide them immunity from several diseases.

Laborious task

Kokkelagedda Nagaraju was one such person, who used to poach them. But today, he is the Department of Forest's key technician.

He, along with five others, had been taking care of the eggs laboriously since the past three months to ensure the hatchlings went back into the sea.

On a 45-minute ride on a boat from Lankavanidibba in the backwaters of an estuary of the Krishna, these six persons had been patrolling the 15-km sea coast in Guntur district from river mouth at Karavaka to Pittala Adavi, where the Olive Ridleys laid eggs. As soon as the turtles laid eggs, these guards protected them from predators (foxes and wild boars) existing in the adjoining thick mangrove forest and re-located them into the hatchery at a central location close to the high-tide line of the sea.

Equipped with high-power torch lights and gunny sacks, these men collected some 80 to 150 eggs each turtle laid at one time between January and March and collected 1,775 of them. Their joy knew no bounds when first batch of eggs hatched late in March. The hatchlings were released into the sea, which could not be ensured prior to February 5 in Lankavanidibba.

A barbed fence, gunny sacks all around and a canopy of coconut leaves keeps the temperatures right (23 degree to 30 degree C) along the coast at the hatchery.

To guard the hatchery, a small shelter has been built for the six guards to keep round-the-clock watch.

Similarly, Olive Ridleys visit Elichetladiba, Sorla Gondi, Nali, Sangameswaram, Utagundam and Palakaitippa in Krishna district within the sanctuary limits and the department proposes to set up four more such hatcheries in those locations.

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