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Olive Ridleys under threat

Photo: Lingaraj Panda

Grim scenario: Carcass of an Olive Ridley turtle at Rushikulya River Mouth Rookery. —

BERHAMPUR: Olive Ridley turtles and their breeding regions continue to come under the threat of illegal fishing in the sea near Rushikulya rookery of Ganjam district in Orissa.

Olive Ridleys usually start their mating at sea from November near this coast, which continues till January. To protect these endangered marine turtles, fishing is banned in this area from beginning of November till the return of hatched baby turtles into the sea from this coast. But neither the State Fisheries Department nor the forest officials have the infrastructure to check illegal fishing in the area.

According to the Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), A.K. Jena they do not have any boats to monitor and check illegal fishing in the area. The State Fisheries Department is yet to get the boat, which could be used for surveillance in the sea near Rushikulya rookery. In this situation they are totally dependant on the coast guard. On December 3, the coast guards had seized three trawlers from Andhra Pradesh, which had made illegal entry into Orissa coast and were fishing in the mating area of turtles where fishing was totally banned.

Turtles are meeting gory end when they get entangled in mono-filament fishing nets or being hit by propellers of trawlers.

The Ganjam district Traditional Fish Workers’ Union had complained many timesthat the Fisheries and Forest Departments have failed to check menace of illegal entry of trawlers from Andhra. They alleged that these trawlers were one of the major causes behind the death of turtles in sea. These traditional fishermen have also seized some Andhra trawlers from sea in the past. Turtles have started to fall prey to this illegal fishing. Carcasses of some dead Olive Ridley turtles were found floating near the beach near Rushikulya river mouth. But their number is too less in comparison to other beaches frequented by Olive Ridleys on Orissa coast. Over 372 carcasses of these marine turtles have been located on Orissa’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary coast in the past one week.

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