The Times of India 17 Dec 10;
BHAVNAGAR: In a major step towards conservation of marine turtles on Gujarat coastline, a study will be carried out by department of marine sciences, Bhavnagar University.
"The three-year project `Monitoring of Marine Turtles` is being funded by Union ministry of earth sciences. The process in this regard has been initiated by the department," said Dr IR Gadhvi, reader and head of department of marine sciences, Bhavnagar University.
"During the study period, our team will find out the habitat of the marine turtles and will continuously monitor them. The study area will cover 120 km of coastal areas, mainly Bhavnagar district coast and some parts of Amreli district coastline. The monitoring will help us know the turtles` behaviour and nesting patterns, movement, and food chains besides the population estimation of the endangered species," said Gadhvi.
He said that generally Olive Ridley and Green Turtles are found in our coastal areas. Both the species are endangered.
"Earlier, sporadic studies were carried out by some institutions on specified areas on the coastline. However, till now, we do not have exact figure of marine turtles on entire Gujarat coast area. We are hopeful to find out the habitats and population estimation in our notified study area. The monitoring process will help us understand the threat aspect to these marine species and also about what steps should be taken to conserve marine turtles in future. Also, the study will provide the idea of better conservation point of view in context of industrial development that are taking place across the coastline in Gujarat," he said.
Moreover, state forest department has established breeding centers for marine turtles on coastal in order to conserve them.
