KENDRAPARA: Around 1,500 carcasses of Olive Ridley turtles have recently washed ashore along the nearly 15 km of coastline from Hukitola to Eakakula beach within the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary in Kendrapara.
Environmentalists say the turtles likely died after becoming entangled in fishing nets. Secretary of Gahirmatha Marine Turtles and Mangrove Conservation Society Hemant Rout said, “Many of the carcasses bear injuries, which indicates they were trapped either in trawl nets or gill nets.”
Under the Odisha Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982, trawlers are supposed to fish beyond 5 km from the coast. And within the marine sanctuary, the boats must operate beyond 20 km offshore. However, Rout alleged that hundreds of trawlers violate these rules by fishing close to the shore, resulting in turtles getting trapped in their nets.
He also accused officials of under-reporting turtle deaths. “Forest and wildlife officials often provide lower figures of dead turtles to the authorities. The death of such large numbers of turtles each year will adversely affect the population of this endangered marine species,” he said.
Rout added that the risk to Olive Ridleys could be reduced if trawlers were equipped with Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs), a small additional net or metal grid installed inside fishing nets that allows trapped turtles to escape while retaining the fish catch. However, he said there has been little progress in enforcing the use of TEDs in trawler nets.
Gahirmatha forest range officer Kapilendra Pradhan said, “We have arrested 345 fishermen and seized 38 vessels, including two boats from West Bengal and as many from Andhra Pradesh, for illegal fishing inside the marine sanctuary since November 1.” The Forest department has also seized 3,315.30 quintal of fish from the vessels.