Friday, March 27, 2009

Gahirmatha Arribada : nesting season of 2008-09

Dear Members,,

we just got the news that the first wave of arribada happened saturday night, and according to forest dept sources 75000 turtles have nested. The details are not very clear but initial reports suggest that nesting happened in Nasi I

Last year when arribada didnt happen many voices were raised on dredging of dhamra port having affected turtles, while the truth is average reproductive effort of a female olive ridley is 4 years, i.e. in other words a female turtle comes to nest once only in 4 years, it takes that much time for the egg folicles to develop and make the pan-oceanic trip worthwhile for the females,, while the males do come to mate every year, so if arribada has not happened doesnt mean that the dredging of last year and this year caused some disturbances,, it would have been something which took place 4 years ago,,, and the fact is arribada didnt take place in many instances since the discovery of arribada in the 1970s ( Bustard, 1976 : World's largest sea turtle rookery? Tigerpaper 3: 25)
and these years are 1982, 1988, 1997, 1998 and 2002. (Kartik Shanker et. al. Biological Conservation 115 (2003) 149-160) was the dhamra dredging happening then??

Amlan

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi

I am currently working on a story on this issue and infact have tried initiating contact with the IUCN as well. Incidentally, I subscribe to the list serve where you originally posted this, so the question is why dint you post the response to your comment as well?

However, I also have my apprehensions of those claiming a stop to construction and the focus of my story centres around productive relationships between business and conservation organisations.

amlansworld said...

Thomas, thanks for your response, actually this response then got lifted off from nat hist and got posted in regional e - forums of Orissa and IUCN didnt like that very much, and i was in two minds about posting a reply, and was feeling a little low too,, as though i was expecting flak, i didnt expect IUCN to be insecure about the debate i started, i dont want to lose my scientific voice, anyways,, which paper do you work for,, ? I would be glad to help you out,, here is the draft reply .. which i have drafted,,

Dear Sudharshan,
Well, all I wanted to say was that the arribada has happened this year,, and that the reproductive effort of olive ridleys is a four year affair, and that there have been non-arribada years (before) in the Orissa coast, nothing more, nothing less. But obviously you had other things on your mind like our EIA among other issues,, I will try to address these issues, but first let me also clarify that this response as well as the earlier posting was in my personal capacity, the same capacity in which I have been posting in this forum for the last 10 years. Though I have been advised otherwise that I don’t have a voice anymore as I am not a scientist operating in a scientific capacity, but a DPCL employee, and there are other people to do the speaking, I think I deserve a chance to respond to your mail.
You have talked about lighting, well though it is premature to talk about it, we are getting the best lighting advice from the foremost experts on lighting and turtles, and even as we speak for the port lighting we are getting light fixtures with full cut off luminaries. We are trying our best to get the construction lights to have as less light spillage as possible.
Oil and cargo spills would be adhered to by the MARPOL regulations of the MARPOL convention. So will ballast and bilge waters, during the operational phase, we are currently in the construction phase and even now we have the Regional Research Laboratory ( now renamed as the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology) monitoring the off shore water parameters, air & noise parameters to the satisfaction of the Ministry of Environment & Forests.
Shoreline changes have been attributed to the port, even though it is a much broader phenomenon, but we have engaged a premier agency to investigate the shore line changes and impacts from dredging and the reports would surely be put in public domain once the study is completed.
And whoever said that there would be zero impact, in fact every time you visit a wilderness area (there is some impact, not zero impact), so I agree on the thermodynamic impossibility of zero impact. We never said we would not have any impact did we?
I wont even try entering the realm of EIA and EMP over here as it would be beyond the scope of this discussion forum, and will only point out that you have not considered the other documents and study reports submitted (from 1998 – 2000) to the Empowered Committee for Environmental Clearances of the MOST which also had members of the MoEF during the two year scrutiny of our EIA Documents & Studies (resulting in our environment clearance in 4.1.2000), in your assessment, making it an incomplete assessment,
Regarding the validity or invalidity of the EIA and the clearance, may I point out that this matter has already been examined by the NEAA, perhaps you are yet to read the NEAA judgement, please let me have your postal address so that I can mail it to you.
I invite you to my office to have a look at all documents and then form a learned opinion regarding apples and oranges.

Amlan
Please refer : http://www.seaturtle.org/mtn/archives/mtn121/mtn121p27.shtml

Unknown said...

The two false premises, this, the "finite resource" and, the "pristine nature" from your 'Climate Change Delusion', when taught to an individual with an altruistic moral code, will cause an evasion or result in mental problems in the person who tries to apply principles to life.
No human being can develop an intact ego holding a believe, that their every action is harmful to their fellow man. The guilt is simply too corrosive and inevitably such a person will hate themselves for destroying other or hate all others for destroying their quality of life.
I think that is why the leaders of the environmental movement tend to be both criminal and irrational. It is their only defense as, if they became honest they would have to kill themselves and if they became rational they drop environmentalism.
greenpeace should understand that dhamra,they port is going to help poverty stricken orissa to greater extent. they should sit with tata settle the matter amically about the turtles,instead of making so much hue and cry,i want everyone to standup,and support dhamraport for the people of orissa.

Unknown said...

The fundamental rights of [humanity] are, first: the right of habitation; second, the right to move freely; third, the right to the soil and subsoil, and to the use of it; fourth, the right of freedom of labor and of exchange; fifth, the right to justice; sixth, the right to live within a natural national organization; and seventh, the right to education.green peace should understand that human value is as important as turtles,TATA as taken necessary clearance from the concerned authority for construction of the dhamra port ,since the distance is 25kms from the breeding place it wont affect the breeding of the turtles,so we all should stand up and support the construction of dhamra port.

Unknown said...

We will not enjoy security without development, we will not enjoy development without security, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights,green peace should go far long term conversation strategies as u have mentioned , it looks green peace has personal vendetta against the TATA ,it is not settling the matter amicably it is making hue and cry to get international recognition ,dont bogged down by this threat by this vested intrested ,finish dhamra project and help the poverty stricken orissa.

Unknown said...

Tata is a old company having a very potential experience since many years, I don’t feel that Tata will take any such type of decisions which will affect environment or may be turtles, even then GreenPeace or any such NGO's are unhappy with this port construction they can tackle this matter in even more mannered and respectful way which also helps to maintain the real standards and purpose of such NGOs. Otherwise its very much ridiculous to approach in a disgraceful manner.

Unknown said...

In my opinion, TATA has undertaken a big task of improving the status of Orissa through
Dhamra port construction. And it should not discontinue this magnificent endeavor because of some worthless obstructions. So I strongly support the construction of Dhamra port.
On the other hand I also feel that the NGOs such as Greenpeace or others should recognize the importance of this construction keeping the improvement of Orissa state in their consideration.

Anonymous said...

We must understand the role of human rights as empowering of individuals and communities. By protecting these rights, we can help prevent the many conflicts based on poverty, discrimination and exclusion (social, economic and political) that continue to plague humanity and destroy decades of development efforts. The vicious circle of human rights violations that lead to conflicts-which in turn lead to more violations-must be broken. I believe we can break it only by ensuring respect for all human rights, It is really good to know that atleast TATA has taken an initiative to develop Orissa State. I hope this would bring in a balanced livelihood, employment and at par infrastructure and business for overall development development of Orissa Citizens and state

Unknown said...

Nature has always created things with interdependence, on each other that may be of man on nature or between varieties of creatures. But in this issue of Dhamra port constructions, is seems like interdependency is not among man & nature, but it is among the Green peace and the other political matters by which the NGO’s will be benefited.

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