03rd April 2006: Greenpeace activists create a symbolic graveyard outside the office of the Chief Wildlife Warden of Orissa, as a reminder of the mass deaths of the endangered Olive Ridley Turtles. Greenpeace has demanded that the Forest Department demonstrate its accountability, and take concrete steps to prevent further turtle deaths in Orissa.
All pix (c) Greenpeace/Namrata Chowdhary
11 am on 03rd April, 2006: The office of the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW) looks appropriately desolate today – black crosses mark the deaths of 2127 turtles in Devi this year, huge pictures of the dead show the grim reality on the beaches, and over a dozen volunteers stand solemnly with one question on their banner, and several more on their faces: 2127 dead in Devi. How many more before you act?
Not surprisingly, the CWW is not in. While he attends an important meeting elsewhere, we wait, in his office, for concrete answers to questions that have bothered every visitor to the Turtle Witness Camp. We are demanding that the Forest Department explain:
1. What steps have been taken to act on the directives of the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court in 2004 such as the procurement of sea-worthy speed vessels for day and night patrolling in the near coastal waters and at the three mass nesting sites?
2. How, and by when, does the Forest Department intend to facilitate the demarcation of the no-fishing zones at Devi, Rushikulya and Gahirmatha?
3. How has the Department spent the sum of Rs. 1 Crore (allocated for turtle protection and conservation) entrusted to the Department in 2000. If the money has not been spent, why has the Department not utilized the funds for the purpose intended?
4. What concrete actions does the Chief Wildlife Warden propose to take to ensure that Orissa’s ongoing turtle tragedy is not repeated in the 2006-2007 season?
Sanjiv Gopal, Greenpeace India’s Oceans campaigner, says he has “repeatedly attempted to engage the Forest Department and sought their collaboration on the issue of turtle conservation, in particular, to implement the directives of the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court. We’re bringing the turtle graveyard to their doorstep in an attempt to shake them out of their apathy. At the very least, we expect some demonstration of their accountability.”
3.30 PM: At the end of a three-hour wait, the Chief Wildlife Warden was finally left with no choice but to meet with the Greenpeace activists waiting at his office. His only response to the critical questions raised by Greenpeace was to profess his complete inability to improve the situation. He said his department was handicapped because it did not receive adequate support (financial resources or manpower) from the state government.
He also admitted that no high-speed patrol boats had been procured thus far, and told us that the funds allocated for turtle protection were being utilized to hire fishing trawlers to serve as patrol boats; a total of Rs 60 lakhs has been spent on this and other ‘routine operations’ in the last three years. As the Greenpeace report points out, these three years have seen over ten thousand turtle deaths being recorded in the Devi region alone.
When we confronted him about the demand for the demarcation of the sanctuary and the no-fishing zones, the Chief Wildlife Warden dismissed it as a process too ‘complicated’ and ‘expensive’ for his department to undertake.
The Warden ended the meeting by admitting that the Forest Department was not equipped to monitor the seas, as its officials were trained in forest management, and suggesting that the responsibility should be transferred to “some other department.”
And meanwhile, in Orissa, the turtles continue to die.