Turtles unlimited

Kolkata firm decides to save turtles in Orissa, Gujarat.

Kolkata-based Turtle Ltd, the menswear ready-made garments company, has taken up the task of saving turtles in the country, particularly in Orissa and Gujarat.

It has joined hands with WWF India and the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) to fund projects on turtle conservation.

According to Amit Ladsaria, director of Turtle Limited, "We wanted our corporate social responsibility to focus on turtle conservation because that goes with our brand name. We, therefore, joined hands with WWF India and the WSO in 2006 to take the cause forward."

According to Turtle Ltd, a part of the proceeds from the sale of its products goes to these two organisations and is used in undertaking scientific surveys, awareness programmes and conservation projects.

"We have dispersed around Rs 18 lakh in the last one year to these organisations," said Ladsaria.

The company funds the salaries of the programme supervisor, field assistant and part time animators, travel expenses of the group, publicity and awareness material, local meetings for turtle conservation, boat charges and other expenses incurred for day-to-day operations. It also sponsors equipment like megaphones, binoculars, camera and life jackets.

This attempt by the company to conserve turtles has started showing results. According to Biswajit Mohanty, secretary, WSO, "We have been working around the Mahanadi river area in Orissa for turtle conservation since 2004. In 2004, we covered about 200 km of the river where turtles are found in huge numbers. With the help of Rs 3 lakh provided by Turtle Ltd during the last one year, we were able to cover an additional 400 km area."

According to the WSO, Turtle Ltd's support has also helped in gathering valuable data regarding species distribution and threats due to poaching.

Enforcement activities have also been undertaken with the help of forest officials and some poachers have been arrested with live turtles. The poaching network in the area has also been unearthed.

During the last one year, two turtle shells and a fishing boat were seized, and two poachers were arrested by the forest department, after a tip off by the WSO. Another 145 turtles were rescued from the poachers and later rehabilitated and released into the rivers.

At one observation point at the Kathjodi river, an adult turtle weighing 12 kg caught by poachers was released. The local fishing community in Orissa has also lent its support for the cause.

With the help of the company's funds, surveys are being carried out in the distributaries of the Mahanadi river in the downstream of Cuttack, at various points, to determine the types of species and the levels of poaching.

A field camp has been set up at Sankharisahi village, located on the left bank of the Devi river, where a project officer has been stationed. In the next phase, Turtle Ltd's funding will be used to cover all the major river systems of Orissa where fresh water turtles are found.

Though extensive surveys were conducted in the past for marine turtles, there is no data available on fresh water turtles in the state. The project is expected to complement the existing programme underway on the river Mahanadi.

Meanwhile, WWF India is carrying out its turtle conservation project in some selective coasts of Gujarat, with the help of funds provided by Turtle Ltd.

According to Fahmeeda Hanfee, senior coordinator, oceans and coasts programme, WWF India, "We chose Gujarat for turtle conservation because we wanted to focus on a state which has a large number of Green and Olive Ridley turtles but not enough organisations handling projects for their conservation."

WWF India's activities in Gujarat to protect turtles comprise education and awareness campaigns, which are conducted around industries, and before local communities and schoolchildren.

Hanfee said that in the next phase WWF India would patrol the beaches in Gujarat during October-January, the nesting period of turtles.

The organisation will protect turtle eggs from being eaten away by stray dogs. WWF India, in collaboration with Turtle Ltd, also plans to launch a sea turtle conservation, education and awareness campaign in Gujarat, and develop a participatory nesting beach protection and management programme with the help of local people.

Dead Olive Ridley turtles are spotted in large numbers at Garihmata, the Devi and Jatadhar river mouths, Harishpur, Chilika coast and Puri. These endangered species nest at three major areas in Orissa, out of which Garihmata is its largest habitat in the world with over 1,00,000 nesting turtles.

However, the nesting population of turtles at this place declined from 230,000 in 2006 to just 140,000 this year. The decline of the nesting population according to WWF can be attributed to illegal trawl fishing operations, particularly shrimp trawling, in the shore waters of Garihmata and other coastal areas of Orissa.

www.turtlelimited.com