seaturtle.org : MTN : ARCHIVES : Sign In

Shrimp trawlers and gill netters are the primary cause of mortality (Pandav et al. 1998; Shanker et al. 1999). These vessels have operated in near-shore coastal waters in violation of the Orissa Marine Fisheries Regulation Act (1982) and Rules (1983), which bans all mechanised fishing within 5 km of the coast. Apart from the large scale mortality of sea turtles, the small scale traditional fisheries are also collapsing due to uncontrolled and illegal mechanised fishing within the prohibited zone. It has become apparent over the past few years that the conservation of sea turtles and small scale fisheries would require the formulation of a long term strategy and a cooperative effort from various sectors of government and society to implement it.

It was with this goal that Operation Kachhapa was developed (kachhapa = turtle; oriya). Operation Kachhapa aims to protect sea turtles and their habitats by enabling strict enforcement of the 5 km non-mechanized fishing zone limit by the Forest and Fisheries Departments and the Coast Guard. It is believed that these measures would also help preserve small scale fisheries in the region. Apart from Gahirmatha nesting beach, which is a classified as a sanctuary, none of the nesting beaches are legally protected. Operation Kachhapa aims to aid the Forest Department in protecting the nesting sites at Gahirmatha and to objectively monitor other turtle nesting sites and turtle mortality. An important focus is to increase awareness among the public and small scale fishing communities and integrate them into turtle conservation programmes. The project currently involves the following organisations: from the Orissa government, the Forest Department and the Fisheries Department; from the non-government sector, the Wildlife Society of Orissa, Project Swarajya and various other organisations and individuals. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, which has a sea turtle research programme on the Orissa coast has been assisting in monitoring nesting and mortality.

The project consists of three major elements:

Enforcement

Operation Kachhapa is:

- providing a sea-going patrol vessel for the Forest Department and auxiliary support boats for the monitoring camps run by the Department.

- providing equipment for mobile camps run by the Forest Department and researchers to protect and monitor nesting beaches.

- creating an incentive scheme for enforcement officers, including the monthly Kachhapa Award for outstanding service.

- preparing an assessment of enforcement action and penalties incurred to date to present the results to the Orissa government's committee.

- following all relevant court cases and pursuing private proceedings against trawlers apprehended for illegal fishing and against poachers.

Monitoring:

Operation Kachhapa is:

- Assisting research programmes through local community involvement in tagging and monitoring of nesting turtles and monitoring of trawler related mortality which was supervised by the WII research team.

Awareness:

Operation Kachhapa is:

- producing information boards in fishing port areas detailing traditional fishery and wildlife laws.

- producing information leaflets about the need for turtle conservation and fishery and wildlife laws for the operators of fishing boats.

- producing programmes for local radio to provide information about turtle conservation.

- establishing an e-mail update network to keep regional and international journalists, turtle conservationists and other interested persons informed of developments regarding turtle conservation in Orissa.

- providing regular media updates through nationwide TV news channels, newspapers, news-magazines, and radio to keep the public informed about the status of the turtles and the occurrence of mass nesting.

- enlisting the support of decisions makers like legislators (Members of Orissa Legislative Assembly); seeking action from senior government officers, who are in charge of turtle protection, by keeping them informed about sea turtle mortality and nesting.

Kachhapa '99

From March 24 - April 1, 1999, over 200,000 turtles nested at the two islands (Nasi 1 and 2) that are the current sites for mass nesting at Gahirmatha. However, around 80% of the eggs were lost due to inundation and erosion (Bivash Pandav Pers. Comm.). Mass nesting also occurred at a new site at the mouth of Barunei, 30 km south of Gahirmatha, with 8000 turtles nesting in the 2^nd week of March and 20,000 turtles nesting on 21-22 April. Though the mass nesting in Gahirmatha and other new sites are encouraging for conservationists, over 10,000 turtles were found stranded on 360 km of coast between December and April despite the efforts of the Fisheries and Forest Department (Bivash Pandav Pers. Comm.). Various factors contribute to this lack of success: lack of training and expertise in marine patrolling, lack of funds at implementation level, and inadequate coordination between the different departments. The Coast Guard, which was extremely effective in patrolling deeper waters, has no small vessels in the region which could patrol shallow waters where most of the trawlers operated. The small patrol boats provided under Operation Kachhapa to the State Forest Department were of some assistance under such circumstances.Apart from these government agencies, the State Police Department also provided armed police detachments for the sea patrolling operations since some of the trawler crews were armed.

It is essential that local conservationists and administrators recognise that the failure of the arribada in 1997 and 1998 was probably due to a combination of factors including beach suitability. The 1999 arribada does not reflect any decrease in turtle mortality, nor success in conservation efforts. The current nesting sites comprise two islands (fragments of an original island which became separated from the mainland in 1989) each of which is about 2 km long and less than 100 metres wide (Prusty et al. 1999). The islands have become narrower over the past few years and inundation during spring tides may have been a primary cause for the failure of the arribada in 1997 and 1998. These need to be monitored closely over the next few years, while monitoring the coast for new nesting sites as well.

The turtle season of 1999 saw unprecedented enforcement activity; as many as 61 trawlers and gill netters were seized for illegal fishing inside the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. Their trial cases were contested by lawyers engaged under Operation Kachhapa on behalf of the Forest Department in the local courts. Trawler owners instructed their crews not to venture towards Gahirmatha and one of the indicators of decreased mechanised fishing was the steep fall in the sale of trawl nets (communicated by Garware Wall Ropes Ltd. a leading seller of marine fishing nets in Orissa).

It is unlikely that trawler operators will comply with the fishing laws despite the assurances given by their associations in different fora. Their fishing activity has been severely hit by the enforcement during the current season. They have already suggested that turtle deaths are caused by factors other than drowning in trawl nets; most notable amongst these innovative hypotheses are pollution, mating stress, egg laying stress and migration fatigue. Inevitably, there is a view (which, sadly, has support from political quarters) that due to the large numbers of olive ridleys off the Orissa coast, the death of some thousands should not be a matter for alarm.

The use of Turtle Excluder Devices is an issue that has been widely debated. While the government has allocated funds for TED implementation programmes and Project Swarajya has made efforts to introduce indigenously designed TEDs, it has to yet to gain acceptance amongst trawlers. Currently, none of the trawlers are using TEDs. Another issue that Operation Kachhapa will have to deal with is coastal development, particularly beach illumination. Some of the efforts to control lighting have been successful; the Defence Department and a privately owned factory near mass nesting beaches have been persuaded to control lighting during the nesting season (Shanker et al. 1999). It is already evident that the mass awareness programmes launched under Operation Kachhapa to protect the livelihood of small scale fishermen have started yielding results. On 10^th May 1999, the fishermen of Orissa joined a strike by small scale fishermen throughout the country demanding total stoppage of illegal trawling within the coastal zone of 5 km reserved for them. These small successes encourage the notion that sea turtles can be preserved on the Orissa coast by integrating the local people and coastal residents into the conservation effort. It is hoped that the larger issue of protection of small scale fisheries and the livelihood of nearly 300,000 small scale fishermen would also ensure the survival of the olive ridley sea turtle in the future by compliance with the marine fisheries laws. Though monitoring and patrolling are likely to provide some relief from trawling mortality (which is, of course, essential), long term solutions must involve the local people. It is in this area that one would expect Operation Kachhapa to create an impact over the next few years.

Acknowledgements:The number of contributors to sea turtle conservation in Orissa over the years is far too great to list here. Several individuals and organisations have been responsible for the inception and initial success of Operation Kachhapa. None of the work would have been possible without the active participation, field implementation and support of the Forest Department, particularly the Chief Conservator of Forests (W.L.), Mr. S.K Patnaik, and the Conservator of Forests (W.L.) Mr. B.C. Prusty. The D.F.O. of Rajnagar Mangrove W.L. Division Mr. P.R. Karat personally led his enthusiastic and committed field staff on many occasions in seizing fishing trawlers which were violating the law. The Superintendents of Police of Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur Districts also rendered valuable assistance by providing armed policemen for the sea patrols. Operation Kachhapa is currently funded by the Barbara Delano Foundation. It is coordinated by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) Delhi, under the directorship of Belinda Wright, who has brought a large and diverse group together to work for the protection of sea turtles in Orissa. The authors would like to thank Jack Frazier, Bivash Pandav and B.C. Choudhury for their comments on and earlier draft of this article.

BUSTARD, H.R. 1974. India - A preliminary survey of the prospects of crocodile farming (Based on the work of HR Bustard). FAO, Rome: 1-50.

KAR, C.S. 1982. Discovery of second mass nesting ground of the Pacific Olive Ridley (L. olivacea) in Orissa, India. Tiger Paper, 9: 6-7.

PANDAV, B., B.C. CHOUDHURY & C.S. KAR. 1994. Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) and its Nesting Habitats along the Orissa Coast, India. A Status Survey. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India. 48pp.

PANDAV, B., B.C. CHOUDHURY & K. SHANKER. 1998. The Olive Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Orissa: an urgent call for an intensive and integrated conservation programme. Current Science 75: 1323-1328.

PRUSTY, B.G., R.K. SAHOO & S.D. MEHTA. In Press. Olive ridley's mass exodus from Ekakulanasi, Orissa, India - A need for identification of alternate sites. Paper presented in the 2^nd ASEAN sea turtle symposium, Kotakinabalu, Malaysia, 11-13 July 1999.

SHANKER, K., B. PANDAV, B & B.C. CHOUDHURY. 1999. Olive Ridleys in Orissa: further comments. Current Science 76: 1522-1523.