Orissa beach littered with dead Olive Ridleys: Operation Kachhap

Bhubaneswar, Jan 18 (UNI) Operation Kachhap, an organisation engaged in protection of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles, alleged that the clean sandy beaches of Orissa have already been littered with bleeding Olive Ridleys.

Thousands of dead Olive Ridleys have washed ashore after being killed by mechanised fishing boats and were spotted in large numbers at Gahirmatha, Devi river mouth, Jatadhar river mouth, Harishpur areas, Chilika coast and Puri, Operation Kachhap Coordinator Biswajit Mohanty claimed.

He said during the last 14 years, more than 1,30,000 turtles have been found dead on the Orissa coast which has earned dubious title of being the ''world's largest turtle graveyard''.

Last year, Mr Mohanty said as high as 9,000 turtles have perished. This year over five thousand turtles have died so far till December and a majority of them were reported from the Gahirmatha Marine sanctuary, considered to be the largest rookery of the turtle in the world.

This apart, over 400 dead turtles were reportedly found in Devi river mouth while 116 found dead between Devi to Kadua mouth and another 118 from Kadua mouth to Chilka mouth.

Mr Mohanty said the situation at the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary went out of control following the death of a fisherman in firing by the forest guard in December.

The angry fishermen snatched seized boats, released arrested persons and also set fire to the patrol camp at Agarnasi. The forest guards have now refused to carry out sea patrol in the absence of armed guard.

As a result, hundreds of fishing boats from Kharnasi, Jamboo, Talchua, Dhamra, Kasaphal were now seen fishing daily inside the marine sanctuary violating the restrictions imposed on fishing as a measure to save the endangered turtles, who come in lakhs for mass nesting, Mr Mohanty said.

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