KENDRAPARA: When Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed development of ‘turtle trails’ along key nesting sites in Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala in the Union Budget on Sunday, environmentalists and turtle researchers were delighted.
Odisha is home to world’s largest rookery of the Olive Ridley turtles and the announcement brought cheer as such trails are expected to boost eco-tourism, promote conservation and create livelihood for the community.
Gahirmatha in Kendrapara district, Rushikulya river mouth in Ganjam and Devi river in Puri have, historically, been the nesting grounds of the Olive Ridley turtles. Last year, a staggering nine lakh-plus turtles arrived at Rushikulya for laying eggs. Another six lakh turtles nested on the beach of Gahirmatha, known as the world’s largest rookery of the sea turtles.
“Turtle and tourism go together in Australia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Sri Lanka and other countries but Odisha is yet to tap overseas tourists to witness the arribada but the ‘turtle trails’ the budget will help the Forest department to promote turtle tourism and conservation,” said Prem Kumar Jha, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) of Odisha. He said Odisha turtles would be best to weave conservation efforts with tourism and involve the locals, tourists and fishermen.
Hemant Rout, secretary of Gahirmatha Marine Turtle and Mangrove Conservation Society said artificial turtle hatcheries constructed by the Forest department on the nesting grounds could be used to attract tourists.
States like Goa and Kerala have already started programmes to woo tourists, particularly from overseas, by keeping sea turtles in pens near the beach but Odisha is yet to promote such tourism though millions of turtles come here for nesting, said Maheswar Das, a tour operator of Kendrapara. “We hope this budget will be the first step towards attracting turtle tourists to the state,” he added.
He said government should develop basic communication infrastructure near nesting sites at Devi and Rushikulya river mouth areas, the two major nesting grounds of the endangered Olive Ridley.