TATA - No Room for Turtles

Ecology and life History

Olive Ridleys are omnivorous, feeding on crabs, shrimp, rock lobsters, sea grasses, algae, snails, fish, sessile, pelagic tunocates and small invertebrates. They are sometimes seen feeding on jellyfish in shallow waters. These turtles forage offshore in surface waters and can dive to depths of at least 150 meters (500 feet).

Conservation Threats

Commercial trawling has been shown to disrupt and kill Olive Ridleys in India. The turtles are caught in the trawler's nets being dragged far behind the boats. Unable to surface, the turtles suffocate and drown. Some other threats are the poaching of turtle eggs, construction on beaches, and pollution. Mega ports being built by Tata Steel, POSCO and other companies as well as oil exploration activities offshore pose serious long term threats to the species along the Orissa coast, India. The threat perception to turtle habitat with regard to the TATA Steel port (Dhamra port) has to be seen in light of research studies which show that the port site is not frequented by nesting turtles. (Pandav et al., 1994) (Pandav & Choudhury, 2000)The port project has got the due environmental clearances from the central govt of India. In addition the threat perception from this port was further scrutinized in the year 2000 by the National Environment Appellate Authority, mandated specifically to examine environmental clearances, who upheld the environment clearance to the proposed port. The port is fully committed to the cause of the environment and are associating with the best wildlife conservation organization to safe guard the interests of wildlife and wildlife habitat. Further this is not a TATA Steel port but actually an infrastructure project which is being built by the dhamra port company ltd (A Special Purpose Vehicle created by a concession agreement between the state govt and L & T and TATA Steel [the private partners]), this port would eventually revert to the State govt which will own the port. However, a number of national and international environmental groups have expressed concern over the fact that the port, by virtue of its proximity to two Protected Areas, poses an unacceptable environmental risk. Greenpeace has released a critique that exposes serious and fundamental flaws in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted for TATA’s Dhamra port project in Bhadrak district, Orissa. The critique has been authored by Dr. Paul Johnston and Dr. David Santillo from the Greenpeace Research Laboratories, School of Biosciences, Exeter University, United Kingdom.The port is less than 5 kilometres from the Bhitarkanika Sanctuary, India's second largest mangrove forest, and less than 15 km. from the turtle nesting beaches at Gahirmatha Sanctuary. There is also evidence of the presence of turtles in the offshore waters adjoining the port site. The environmental concerns surrounding the port do not stop at turtles. The port site itself is also a breeding ground for horse-shoe crabs, as well as rare species of reptiles and amphibians. One such species, the amphibian Fejervarya cancrivora, is the first record for the Indian mainland.

Olive Ridley Turtles

Olive Ridley Turtles

Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Reptilia
Order:
Testudines
Family:
Cheloniidae
Genus:
Lepidochelys
Species:
L. olivacea
Binomial name
Lepidochelys olivacea

The Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is one of the smallest species of sea turtle. It is named for the olive color of its heart-shaped shell.

Anatomy and morphology

These lightly-built turtles have an average weight just over 100 lb (up to 50 kg.). They have a high-domed shell, with a carapace length of only 27 inches (70 cm). The carapace is made up of five pairs of costal scutes, with occurrences of up to 6 to 9 divisions per side. The margins are smooth. The carapace is a dark olive green in color with a yellowish underside. The head is large.
Distribution It is usually found in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The common name in Spanish is tortuga golfina o del golfo.

The beaches of Orissa, India provide one of the last nesting grounds of the Olive Ridley turtles in the world. In addition, trawling and offshore drilling for oil and gas has been blamed for the death of more than 100,000 Olive Ridley turtles, which have washed ashore in the last ten years. Though listed by the US Endangered Species Act, populations in the Atlantic Ocean continue to dwindle, while the populations found in areas around the Pacific Ocean seem to be on the rise.

Furthermore, their ability to reproduce in the Red Sea was thought impossible, however, recent evidence suggests that they do indeed hatch in Eritrea amongst other places in the Red Sea. In the Indian Ocean, a major nesting ground for the species can be found in the Indian state of Orissa. Beaches in Devi, Gahirmatha and Rushikulya are known nesting sites for the L. olivacea Indian Ocean population. In 2007, around 130,000 turtles nested on the beaches of Gahirmatha. They are common in the Bay of Bengal, seen especially along parts of the Tamil Nadu coastline, including within the main city, Chennai. Olive Ridleys are seen frequently in laying eggs in the shore of Saint Martin's Island in Bangladesh.

The villagers of Kolavipalam in Kozhikkode (Calicut) district have been burning midnight oil to ensure the survival of the visiting Olive Ridley turtles. Every year, the turtles come to nest in the 20-km beach, which stretches between Pavyoli and Kottapuzha estuary, some 45 km north of Calicut. But till 1992, the eggs mostly fell prey to stray dogs, jackals and humans, too, till a few youngsters started observing the turtles and reading about them. After learning that they were the Olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), they started guarding turtle nests day and night. A network of volunteers run Turtle Walks during the main nesting season in Chennai, which runs from January to March. Nesting turtles that are found are protected from the dogs, and the nests dug up after & relocated to a hatchery. This saves the eggs from predation from dogs, crabs, seagulls, etc. Once the hatchlings emerge, volunteers again help steer the little ones towards the beckoning waves of the Bay of Bengal.

It is believed that Olive Ridley turtles return to nest on the same beach they are hatched. If this is the case, then on these beaches where efforts are made to protect the eggs and hatchlings there should be rises in the numbers returning to nest in future.

Ecology and life History



Olive Ridleys are omnivorous, feeding on crabs, shrimp, rock lobsters, sea grasses, algae, snails, fish, sessile, pelagic tunocates and small invertebrates. They are sometimes seen feeding on jellyfish in shallow waters. These turtles forage offshore in surface waters and can dive to depths of at least 150 meters (500 feet).

Olive Ridleys - Victim to Commercial Fishing

Greenpeace India has done various campaigns to save the Indian seas. One campaign which has received wide popularity and concern has been the treat faced by the Olive Ridley Turtles in the coast of India (Orissa).





Olive Ridley Turtles
Bhubaneswar, Feb 1 - More than 8,000 endangered Olive Ridley turtles are said to have been killed over the past three months by mechanised trawlers along the Orissa coast in eastern India, home to the world's largest nesting site for turtles.
The state has a long coastline of over 480 km along the Bay of Bengal and sea turtles come ashore in several places for nesting in every winter. Around 700,000 to 800,000 Olive Ridley turtles visit Orissa's Gahirmatha beach, for nesting every year.

' In the past years, the clean sandy beaches of the state are littered with bleeding Olive Ridleys, as thousands of them have been washed ashore after being killed by mechanised fishing boats,' Biswajit Mohanty, coordinator of the turtle conservation group Operation Kachhapa, told IANS.
Mohanty has also said that 'Over the past three months, we conducted surveys from time to time and spotted large numbers of dead Olive Ridleys in Gahirmatha in Kendrapada district and at the Devi river mouth in Puri district.
'Besides these two places, we have also spotted dead turtles at the Jatadhar river mouth in Jagatsinghpur district, in the Harishpur area, Chilika coast and in Puri.’At least 8,354 Olive Ridley turtles have been found dead on the beaches and near the river mouthsAround 3,000 dead turtles were spotted in the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary alone, followed by the Dhamra river mouth with 2,000 dead turtles and around 1,154 at the Chilika river mouth.
However, state wildlife chief P.K. Patnaik said the number of dead turtles discovered along the coast in the past three months was just around 2,000.
'We have taken all measures to protect the turtles,' Patnaik told IANS. 'We have established at least 45 camps along the coastline comprising of local officials and local social activists to keep a watch on the movement of turtles and to protect them. Besides, we have also sought the help of police to stop the movement of mechanised trawlers near the nesting sites.
' But Mohanty said for the last three years, the state forest department has been concealing the exact figure of the turtle casualties for fear of public outcry over their inaction.
He said in the past 14 years, more than 130,000 turtles have been found dead on the Orissa coast, which has earned it the dubious title of being the 'World's Largest Turtle Graveyard'. Last year, around 9,000 turtles were found dead here.
'The turtle congregation is now breaking up and there is little chance of mass nesting at the Devi river mouth. Every day, hundreds of mating turtles are being slaughtered here.
'Though mechanised trawling is prohibited within a 20 km radius of the coastline, every day 20-30 trawlers could be seen here due to lack of enforcement.

' Endangered Olive Ridleys continue to be massacred in the state despite orders passed by the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court in April 2004 to protect them.
Two new speedboats were bought by the state Fisheries Department with a grant of Rs.12 million provided by the government of India. However, they are lying idle at Paradweep port instead of being deployed for patrolling. It has been learnt that there are no trained boat drivers to run these boats.
No night patrolling is carried out though it was ordered by the committee. Also the law made it mandatory for trawlers to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TED), however, not a single trawler uses them.
On Jan 15, several dead Olive Ridley Turtles were found at Gundalba beach with injured heads and cut flippers.
The Rs.10 million given by the Indian Oil Corporation to the forest department in the year 2000 for turtle protection is yet to be used for fishing boats. The money has been utilised on field camps and buying useless equipment.
The department is yet to fill up the vacant posts of forest rangers in the Rajnagar Wildlife Division and the Puri Wildlife Division, which are in charge of patrolling in the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary and the Devi river mouth area.

Like tigers and elephants, the Olive Ridley sea turtle is protected by Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Trapping, killing or selling of this species could result in a maximum of seven years' imprisonment. But not a single person has been convicted in Orissa, though thousands of turtles are killed every year.

So one of the world`s most unique and treasured species are seen massacred by the millions of helpless and naked eyes and soon these species will be only be a name in the environmental history books until and unless some concrete steps are taken to save them from extinction.

Researched And Reported By Deven. M. Digwal.

Ocean Greens

OCEANS

The Earth's crust is divided into two parts and the water filled hollows that lie between the continents are called oceans. The oceans are a home to a number of rare and exuberant species and continuous exploration is needed to discover the mysterious secrets of this deep and dark world. But little is known regarding their varied ecosystems and habitats. While we are still discovering, many parts of this unique ecosystem is threatened by extinction due to harsh human activities.