BENGALURU: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget proposal to develop turtle trails along key nesting sites in the coastal areas of Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala is a new challenge for Karnataka, which boasts of 18 beaches along its coastline.
One beach in Mangaluru, two in Udupi and 15 in Uttara Kannada have been identified and documented by forest department and experts working on Olive Ridley Turtles along Karnataka.
“Unlike in Odisha, where the turtles visit in lakhs annually to lay eggs, in Karnataka and along the western coastal states of Maharashtra and Goa, the visit of these turtles is sporadic. However, the season in all the locations is the same February-April.
While tourism on the beaches is not restricted, we try to keep the nesting spaces away from tourists,” said a Karnataka forest department official. “Now if tourism is to be encouraged, then non-intrusive methods will need to be adopted. These turtles come late in the night to lay eggs.
During night hours tourists are not allowed to the beach. The subsequent day, the beach is closed for tourists until all the eggs are collected and secured,” the official added. An official from Odisha said: “Two days of the year, these turtles come in lakhs, late in the night to lay eggs.
These two dates are not fixed. So usually tourism is not encouraged during the time of their arrival, as we want to keep human footprint the least. However, during sporadic arrivals, tourists are welcomed. We need to understand what it means and how it needs to be done.”
Night lights along the coasts have been removed, locals have been roped in, multiple conservation efforts including keeping scavengers and dogs away are being done.