Puri: The Forest Department has made elaborate arrangements to facilitate safe breeding of Olive Ridley sea turtles on the coast here.
Thousands of Olive Ridleys usually congregate on 80km-long coastline in the district here between November and May to lay eggs. However, many turtles die after getting entangled in the fishing nets of mechanised boats, sources said.
The Forest Department has banned fishing by mechanised boats and trawlers within 20 km radius of the coast from November 1 to May 31. However, there will not be any restriction on fishing by traditional boats from Devi estuary to Baliharchandi, said assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Prasanta Kumar Swain.
Sources said Puri wildlife division is all set to open 13 turtle safety camps, including 12 onshore ones, in Brahmagiri, Balukhand, Konark and Astarang ranges. One offshore camp will be set up near the Devi estuary with deployment of a trawler, armed police personnel and officials of the forest and marine fisheries departments.
Onshore camps will be opened at Devi estuary, Gangadevi, Jahania, Daluakani, Kuanarpur, Chandrabhaga, Ramchandi, Beleswar, Nuanai, Pathakata, Baliapanda and Baliharchandi. “Two watchers and a forest guard will be deployed at each onshore camp. The watchers will keep a tab on the movement of trawlers and mechanised boats within the prohibited zone. They will also bury dead turtles,” said a forest department official.
The forest department will set up at least eight hatcheries at Chandrabhaga, Kuanarpur, Jahania and Devi estuary to hatch turtle eggs. “Dogs and birds like crows destroy eggs at the nesting sites. We usually collect eggs from nests and hatch them at our hatcheries. We had collected 1.21 lakh turtle eggs from 1,152 nests and hatched them in the last breeding season,” added the official.
Forest department sources said as many as 3,030 Olive Ridley carcasses were recovered from the district coast in the last nesting season.
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