(IN): NDTV Orissa turtles face survival threat

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Link: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070009572

 

Orissa turtles face survival threat

 

Sampad Mahapatra

Monday, April 23, 2007 (Bhubaneswar)

Olive Ridley sea turtles will never have a say in the matter even if

it involves their survival.

 

These turtles, killed in thousands every year along the Orissa coast

by illegal fishing trawlers, might now find their centuries-old affair

with Orissa ending.

 

Korean steel major POSCO plans to set up a captive port at Jatadhari

mouth just 12 kilometres from the port at Paradeep and turtle lovers

feel it could be the final blow to the endangered creatures.

 

''We have lost major turtle nesting beaches in Gahirmatha just because

of one port and that is Paradeep port and if the POSCO project also

comes it will add to this problem?

 

And ultimately we will lose whatever little nesting space which we

still have in the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary,'' said Biswajit

Mohanty, Coordinator, Operation Kachchapa.

 

Now, Olive Ridley turtles are reduced to nesting in just three beaches

in Orissa - Nasi islands in Gahirmatha, Devi river mouth and

Rushikulya river mouth.

 

Severe beach erosion has driven the turtles away from the Rushikulya

site this year. Gahirmatha is threatened by the new port projects.

 

And the state government is now considering a proposal for a port and

thermal power plant at the Devi river mouth.

 

''The state government is hell-bent on destroying each and every mass

nesting grounds of the Olive Ridley sea turtles in Orissa, forgetting

that it's a unique natural heritage that Orissa should be proud of and

which the state government and the people of Orissa should protect at

all costs,'' said Biswajit Mohanty, Co-ordinator, Operation Kachchapa.

 

This is the same government that bans fishing in the turtle zones

along the Orissa coast for six months a year, affecting the livelihood

of thousands of fishermen.

 

The question then is, how can they clear commercial projects that will

most certainly threaten this precious endangered species?