Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra on Thursday directed the concerned authorities to involve local communities, community-based organisations and NGOs in the sea turtle protection and conservation activities.
Chairing a review meeting here, he asked the concerned department to explore possibilities of webcasting those mass nesting scenes which are ethical and aesthetic in the perspective of wildlife protection and promotion of ecotourism. Regulated ecotourism activities would be permitted during the nesting season in selected sites.
Odisha houses 50 per cent of total world population of the Olive Ridley turtles and about 90 per cent of Indian population of sea turtles.
It was decided that 50 onshore and six offshore patrolling camps would be set up by December 2013. Each camp would be manned by Forest staff and daily wage workers from the local community. Additional camp personnel as per the provisions of the ICZM project would also be posted. Babubali, Agarnasi, new Devi Nasi Island, Purunabanda and some other identified locations would be the bases for going into the sea on patrol. Each camp would have VHF communication and mobile phones.
Circle-level monitoring would be done at the level of the Regional Chief Conservators of Forests of Bhubaneswar, Brahmapur and Baripada.
The number of mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles in the Odisha coast has increased constantly over the years from 35,000 in 2001-02 to 6.94 lakh in 2012-13. Similarly, the Ridley causalities in the coast has declined over the years from 12,997 to 2,717 in 2012-13.
The Chief Secretary also wanted undertaking of aerial surveillance of the movement of turtles and giving of advance information so that the Coast Guards and joint patrolling teams take extra caution to protect them.