KENDRAPARA: The Forest department has begun demarcation of Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary within Bhitarkanika National Park by installing six floating buoys in the sea. As many as 15 buoys will be put up in the sea within a month.
The demarcation will help identify the “no fishing zone” and thus provide endangered Olive Ridleys a safe stay.
Bhitarkanika DFO, Bikash Ranjan Dash said demarcation of area within 20 km of the coast in the marine sanctuary over 1,435 sq km area in the sea from Hukitola to Dhamara was started recently. Each buoy put up in the sea costs Rs 7.5 lakh.
“We have received Rs 1.15 crore from Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds. The buoys will be bought from a Bhubaneswar based company,” he said.
The State government declared Gahirmatha as a marine sanctuary to protect the Olive Ridley sea turtles in 1997.
Every year, lakhs of turtles throng the coast for laying eggs making Gahirmatha the largest rookery of the species in the world.
However, due to absence of demarcation of the ‘No fishing zone,’ Forest and Coast Guard personnel are in conflict with fishermen who enter the marine sanctuary every year for fishing.
However, the fishermen have been alleging that they enter the prohibited zone inadvertently as the sanctuary is not properly demarcated.
President of Odisha Machhyajibi Forum, Narayan Chandra Haldari said the authorities must put at least 100 buoys in the sea to demarcate the ‘no fishing zone’.
Absence of demarcation has been causing inconvenience to a large number of fishermen in the area, he said adding, the buoys put up in the sea in the past were washed away.