Action plan to save Ridley turtles

Visakhapatnam: With a view to end the blame game regarding the mysterious death of scores of endangered marine turtles, Olive Ridley, the district administration has finally chalked out a plan to address the problem in a scientific manner.

Andhra Pradesh, having the largest coastline in the country, is an important Olive Ridley nesting habitat. Visakhapatnam has many nesting places along around 25-km long coast up to Bheemunipatnam and particularly between RK Beach and Jodugullapalm beaches. The turtles visit the Port City every year between November and February.

Natural predators, human beings, mechanized trawlers at sea, industrial pollution, oil & gas exploration, and dredging activity are blamed for the death of these migrant turtles. According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India 50 turtles washed ashore in 2010-11, of which 14 were found in Visakhapatnam city.

A co-ordination workshop, conducted here on Tuesday, has decided to take necessary steps and prepare a database on the exact location of nesting turtles, the number of deaths each year, reasons for it, creating awareness amongst fishermen for protecting the endangered species and use of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) nets for protecting them.

Joint director of Fisheries P. Koteswara Rao, who organized the workshop, said various line departments would work together to prevent these deaths. He said 50 percent subsidy (around '2,500) would be offered to fishermen who use (TED) for safeguarding turtles.

State mechanised boat operators’ association president P. C. Appa Rao denied allegations that fishermen were responsible for deaths of turtles and blamed industrial pollution to be the main culprit for the disaster. PCB official said the pollution levels in the sea were not abnormal.

Scientist in-charge of CIFT Dr M. M. Prasad, DSP, coastal security, Prasad Rao, Pradeepnath from Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals, officials from forest department, APPCB and others took part in the meeting.