The Hindu : National : “Halt Dhamra port work to save turtles”

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“Halt Dhamra port work to save turtles”

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Environmentalists have appealed to the Tatas to reconsider their Dhamra Deepwater Port project in Orissa, citing the threat it posed to endangered sea turtles.

Talking to reporters here on Saturday, representatives of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), the Wildlife Society of Orissa and Greenpeace India said the port was coming up less than 5 km from the Bhitarkanika sanctuary and less than 15 km from Gahirmatha’s beaches, one of the largest mass nesting sites for the Olive Ridley turtle in the world.

Belinda Wright, executive director of WPSI, said the turtle was a species that enjoyed the same legal protection as the tiger.

Yet, despite its ecological significance, the Dhamra area was purposely excluded from the Bhitarkanika and Gahirmatha sanctuaries to facilitate the project.

It is amazing that while trawling was rightly banned to protect the turtles, the Orissa government was bending to assist the huge industrial project in the same area which would probably drive the turtles away for good.

Over 100 leading scientists from India and across the world appealed to Tata Steel, the joint promoters of the Dhamra project, to halt the project in the light to potential impact on sea turtles and the environment, through a petition campaign hosted by a coalition of conservation groups.

The list includes over 20 scientists from the Maritime Turtles Specialists Group of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN.

The petition also urged the Orissa government to protect the Dhamra area.

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