Manoj Kar, Kalinga Times 6 Jun 08;
Kendrapara (Orissa), June 6: Are the mass-nesting grounds of Olive Ridley sea turtles in Orissa going to be relegated to pages of history? Wildlife activists are in jittery and are apprehensive of the very existence of three major nesting grounds as this time the threatened marine animals skipped their annual visit to Gahirmatha, world's largest known rookery of these species.
Over 50 percent of the Ridleys turn up for their annual nesting rendezvous to Orissa coast from October to May.
Last year nearly 200,000 turtles nested on the Gahirmatha coast. However, none turned up this year.
Given the fact that state government is going on according sanction to development activities near the sensitive nesting sites, the future of these unique natural heritage sites is at stake, claimed noted wildlife activist and coordinator of Operation Kacchapa Biswajit Mohanty.
There is no credence of doubt that this unique natural heritage has put the state on the international wildlife map. “Unless the state mends its ways, the nesting sites may go extinct,” Mohanty maintained.
There is ample cause for worry as there is unabated human interference and construction activity in close vicinity of turtles' habitats.
The nesting grounds stretching from Nasi Island along the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is threatened by the large scale industrial developments at Dhamra.
A Mumbai-based firm has signed a MoU last month to set up an international standard shipyard. It envisages building and repairing ships up to the size of Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) having a carrying capacity of 300,000 tonnes(DWT). The shipyard may be located in a place which has 10-12 metres water depth at the jetty.
The international size shipyard may have at least two and preferably three big dry docks (2 for building and 1 for repair), a quayside length of at least 2.5 km and various support facilities for building and assembly of ships
Besides, one of the country's largest corporate houses is building a deep water port at Dhamra. Massive dredging operations have commenced since the last five months. The location of the proposed port is hardly 12 km off the mass-nesting site at Nasi Island .
The Dhamra port is being set up under BOT (Built Operate and Transfer) scheme with a capability to accept cape size vessels of up to 120,000 MT. An approach channel with a width of 230 metres and a length of 15 km shall be built to allow ships to enter the port. This would necessitate the dredging of 40 million cubic metres of sand in the first phase and an annual dredging of 3 million cubic metres every year. The volume of activity along the strategic shoreline is simply enormous and breeding turtles are destined to get disturbed following this sort of man-made interference, Mohanty said.
Huge volumes of sand are being dredged out from the seabed bringing in its wake adverse impact on the local coastline and ecology. This affects the marine lives of the area apart from destabilising the coast.
Digging of 40 million cubic metres of sand has already started taking its toll since it signifies irreversible consequences on the local fish and crustacean fauna. The dumped materials which are circulated by sea currents affect the nearby beaches and islands.
This year, unnatural beach erosion of the Nasi II Island has taken place which is believed to be due to the dredging activity.
At present the dredging activity is being carried towards the north of the island. As a result the beach at Nasi II Island has got severely eroded and has become very steep. The turtles find it difficult to climb the steep walls of the beach and were therefore unable to nest this year. The extent of sea erosion as witnessed this year was unprecedented and it can be correlated to the ongoing dredging operations.
The Orissa coast is very fragile and any attempt at developmental activities on the coastline has resulted in huge changes which have been felt even 40-50 km away. The building of Paradip port in the Sixties has resulted in the erosion of the beaches at Satabhaya village which is more than 40 km away from the port.
Further, the Hyderabad based Navajuga Engineering company plans to set up a huge project consisting of a deep sea port, a coast based thermal power plant, fly ash brick unit and desalination plant at Astaranga. The location is at the sensitive Devi river mouth which is one of the major mass nesting sites for sea turtles in the state.
Another MoU has been inked three months ago for establishment of a deep sea port at Palur in Ganjam district which is a few km away from the mass nesting site at Rushikulya river mouth. This year, nearly 100,000 sea turtles climbed ashore here to lay their eggs in March. Once the dredging commences, apprehension of turtles skipping the said nesting site looms large.
