Standing by the sea, Biswajit Mohanty finds himself adrift on an sea of despair. It has been years since he and other turtle conservationists have been trying to impress upon the Orissa Government the need to stop the wanton killing of the endangered Olive Ridleys that make their ritual trek to the state's nesting shores, dig sand pits and lay over a million eggs every winter. But their best efforts have yielded little results. Every wave that crashes against the golden beaches brings lifeless sea turtles ashore in ones and twos.

CHOKED TO DEATH: The Olive Ridleys

As the carcass count mounts, turtle lovers can only lament. "It is as if the Orissa coast has become a big graveyard for sea turtles," says Mohanty. After journeying from the distant Indian Ocean to bolster their numbers, the reptiles have their throats mangled by propeller blades of the trawlers that angle illegally near the state's shores or are suffocated in fishing nets. Either way, the turtles court death.

Last year, the death toll along the Orissa coast-the largest breeding and nesting site of the Olive Ridleys-was over 14,000, while the previous year 17,000 perished. With a mortality figure of over 90,000 in the past nine years, conservationists fear that the already endangered Olive Ridleys-protected under the Wildlife Protection Act-could be truly on their way to extinction. "Their chances of survival are getting slimmer by the day," says Bivash Pandav, scientist at the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India.

Particularly worrisome is the fact that the Ridleys come to breed and a rapid decline in the breeding population is certain to have an adverse impact on the species. Besides Orissa, the Ridleys spawn in Costa Rica and Mexico-the only other major nesting sites in the world. But the large-scale destruction in Orissa may be hard to compensate. "The Ridleys may become extinct a decade from now," says Pandav.

TURTLE HELPLINE
Patrol boats should prevent mechanised trawlers from fishing within 5 km of the shore.
Switch off the highway lights when hatchlings emerge so they are not lured by the bright lights away from the sea.
Implement the mandatory use of excluder device to prevent turtles from getting snared and choked by the net.
Stop casuarina plantations in beaches that are turtle nesting grounds; drive out stray dogs from Gahirmatha.

The projections fill turtle enthusiasts with rage and a rising sense of impotence. Not that it is difficult for the Government to stop the mindless killings. It's all about switching off some lights here, getting some patrol boats there and ensuring the fishermen use turtle excluder devices (TED) to see the reptiles through the breeding season. "The blood bath is avoidable," says Sekhar Dattatri, a filmmaker. In his recent 45-minute documentary The Ridley's Last Stand, Dattatri leaves viewers wondering whether administrative callousness borders on criminality.

Little else can explain the indifference that unfolds along the state's shores. Rules are in plenty and the fabled one among them, as laid down by the Orissa Marine Fisheries Regulation Act of 1982, prohibits fishing using mechanised trawlers within 5 km of the coastline. But there is usually a near traffic jam of trawlers within 2 km of the shore. As each trawler hauls up its catch, turtles long dead of asphyxiation pour out of the nets.

"There is a need to balance the interests of the turtles and the fishing community," says Satyabrata Sahu, director of the state's Fisheries Department. For the time being though, things are heavily skewed against the turtles. There is no patrolling of the coastline to enforce the ban on fishing within 5 km of the shore. Lights from a highway close to the nesting site in Rushikulya continue to disorient hatchlings, drawing them away from the sea to death. Then there is the menace of stray dogs that feast on turtle eggs at Nasi island in Gahirmatha nesting area. The Defence Research and Development Organisation also has a missile-testing base at Wheeler Islands, adjacent to Gahirmatha. An aggressive casuarina plantation programme by the Forest Department along the shoreline is also devouring the nesting sites.

It's four years since the Centre gave Rs 1.5 crore to the Fisheries Department to buy two patrol boats. Another grant of Rs 1 crore by the Indian Oil Corporation to the wildlife wing of the Forests Department lies unused. A circular, making TED mandatory for all fishing trawlers, was issued in December 1997. But not one licence has been revoked for non-use of TEDs. "The indifference is baffling," says Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), a non-profit organisation.

DEATHBED: Over 90,000 Olive Ridleys have been killed in the past nine years

The state's high-powered committee on turtle conservation met only in January end this year-long after the turtles had begun to die. It did not meet once during the previous season. Symposiums are more coveted than solutions and state officials continue to go abroad to "learn" about turtle conservation.

"What is needed is solutions and not symposiums," says Mohanty, who heads Operation Kachhapa-a non-governmental turtle conservation effort launched by the WPSI in 1998. Since there are only three major turtle congregation sites-Gahirmatha, Devi and Rushikulya-along the state's 480 km shoreline, patrolling only 17 km should suffice. Since hatchlings emerge out of the eggshells during a five-day period, switching off the highway lights close to the Rushikulya nesting ground for a few days should not be a tall order, nor should driving out the stray dogs. There is some good news, though. Last week, the state Government decided to give the Indian Coast Guard adequate authority to check illegal fishing. So far, only the fisheries and forest departments were responsible for keeping a check.

"Orissa would do well to have a turtle policy at the earliest," says Dattatri. What is required is administrative will to help turtles and the fisherfolk, who surprisingly are at the receiving end of irrational rules. The illogical ban from January to March on trawling for "turtle safety" within 20 km of the Devi and Rushikulya nesting sites is unnecessary. A 5 km ban should be enough since the Ridleys mate close to the shore and not in the deep sea. But then, idiosyncracies have been the hallmark of turtle conservation-rather the absence of it.