reply to http://mekhala.blogspot.com/2008/05/dont-sat-tata-to-turtles-follow-up.html

'" Turtles can be found all along the Orissa Coast " , there are a few reproductive patches. Instead of quoting people out of context to confuse the issue let us try to restate the undisputed facts in a fresh perspective and try to answer a few questions:

1. Turtles visit the east coast of India, and specially the coast of Orissa for nesting during the season which is generally between November to March.
2. As per WII studies and graphically reproduced by in a study of Pandav,B. & Choudhury, B.C. [2000] (www.reseau-tortues-marines.org/IMG/pdf/Conservation_olive_ridley_Orissa_2000.pdf) they nest sporadically or en masse almost along the entire Orissa coast except the portion north of river Dhamra .
3. The WII studies (Pandav,B. & Choudhury B.C. [2000] ; Pandav B, Choudhury B.C. & Kar, C.S. [ 1994] ) divide the coast south of river Dhamra into seven sectors which are visited by turtles for nesting.
4. Olive Ridley turtles which are classified as Endangered (IUCN 2008; refer www.redlist.org for olive ridleys and http://www.iucnredlist.org/info/categories_criteria for classification criterias) come in hundreds of thousands. Major nesting was reported in the years 1993-94, 1990-91& 1986-87 Kartick Shanker et. al. (2003) > 600,000 and since only females visit for nesting and get counted there may be as many males which also visit the coastal waters for mating and congregation.
5. When the total number is so large( > 600,000) , and the total coast line visited so long (7/8ths of orissa's coast), sighting a turtle near the coast anywhere along Orissa's coast is not such a big event either to be reported or made out as evidence to prevent the construction of port.
6. Now we know that turtles nest south of Dhamra, chiefly at Gahirmatha, Devi and Rushikulya but sometimes at other places also.
7. We know that they do not nest north of river Dhamra.
8. We know from WII reported study of 2000 (Pandav,B. & Choudhury B.C. [2000]) that the mating concentration as far as Gahirmatha nesting ground is concerned is south of Dhamra, but close to Gahirmatha in an area of 54 sq. km within the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary.
9. As per available knowledge and local information, turtles do not come from the north (West Bengal or Bangladesh) but from south (Sri Lanka, or maybe further south)

Now lets try to answer the following questions based on the above information

1. If the entire coast south of river Dhamra (sectors 2-7 refer map above) are visited by turtles for nesting which location, one south of river Dhamra and south of Gahirmatha or one north of Gahirmatha would be safe in respect of turtles?
2. We admit that the port location is not where turtles nest, we add but what if they dont nest they have been seen there / they would be foraging there / they would be mating there. if the WII report is to be believed they do not congregate to mate there. Accepting for the sake of argument that they can be seen / foraging there where would they be seen / foraging more south of Gahirmatha where they certainly nest, mate and south being where they come from or north of Gahirmatha and north of river Dhamra where they do not nest and north being not where they come from.
3. Do ports really harm turtles? Has anybody any proof or reasoning for that. As already said more turtles are likely to be found, and they indeed are found south of Gahirmatha along the coast of Orissa. Numerous studies indicate (with the latest being Tripathy & Pandav [2008]) that turtles often nest in multiple nesting beaches) and a busy major port (Paradeep) in the sector II of map above has not harmed the turtles habitat during the last forty years.
4. Gahirmatha has atleast an earmarked sanctuary of 1400 sq km. while the other nesting beaches like Devi and Rushikulya do not have any sanctuary at all, should not the conservationists be more worried about having sanctuaries delineated there than what is happening beyond north of a nesting beach which has an earmarked sanctuary to take care of its needs.
5. We know that trawl fishing is the chief cause of turtle mortality as turtles get caught in fishing nests and die of asphyxiation. That is precisely why trawl fishing is prohibited near the coast during the season. Thus it is banned even in Paradeep where a port exists and where port activities are not banned near the coast during the season. What is the point in asking how can you have a port where trawl fishing is banned. That is because fishing can kill turtles. Ports do not.

Reference :

1) Pandav , B and Choudhury, B.C. (2000) : Conservation and management of olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Orissa. Final report. Wildlife Institute of India.

2) Pandav , B., Choudhury, B.C. & Kar, C.S. (1994) : A status survey of olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) and their nesting beaches along the Orissa coast, India. Report published by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

3) Tripathy, B and Pandav, B (2008) : Beach fidelity and internesting movements of olive ridley turtles (lepidochelys olivacea) at Rushikulya, India. Herpetological Conservation and Biology Vol 3(1):40-45.