A worthwhile journey

[Mahazareen Dastur]

I personally hate travelling by car as I am prone to motion sickness. So it was with a bit of trepidation that my children and I agreed to accompany my friends Porus and Dilnavaz and their family for a trip to a small village called Velas, a small village in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. (The trepidation bit for me really was the car sickness, while my children dreaded going to a place without a - gasp!- hotel, but more on that later.)

I had heard of Velas about 2 years ago from my colleague, Laxmikant Deshpande. The idea of turtle conservation so close to home intrigued me; after all, there are very few successful conservation stories that one gets to hear of. Besides, given Mumbai's confines and dreary shop-till-you-die-of-boredom-or-become-bankrupt malls, I felt the need to take the kids somewhere worthwhile and let them observe what life is like in other places, albeit for a (very) short time.

Velas has a beautiful beach which is a nesting site for Olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea). According to the national marine fisheries service (USA), this species of turtles has traditionally been widely regarded as the most abundant sea turtle in the world. However, things have changed drastically for it in the past 20 or so years. The main threats to this turtle come from a loss of nesting sites due to beach erosion, human-induced development along beaches, and predators (animals and humans) at nesting sites. Apparently, humans account for the leading threat to the turtles due to unsustainable egg collection, slaughtering of nesting females, and direct harvesting of adults at sea for commercial sale of their meat and hides. Fishing with trawlers, gill nets, ghost nets, etc. has also taken its toll; some say only 1 in 10,000 survive. An estimated 100,000 Olive Ridley turtles were reported dead in Odisha (India) between 1993 and 2003 due to fishing practices. Moreover, once the eggs hatch, the hatchlings play a Russian roulette of sorts, and try to reach the water from the nest by avoiding birds of prey, animals, (the ever-present) humans, and even harsh sunlight. Many perish; Given that the Olive Ridley lays eggs at an interval of 2 to 3 years, it is no wonder that their population has declined so precariously and so quickly. In fact, today, the Olive Ridley is classified as 'Vulnerable' according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature And Natural Resource... and is listed in Appendix I of CITES.

 

An NGO called Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra decided to change things. Since the past 10 years, Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra has been organizing its trademark 'Turtle Festival' in Velas. Turtle conservation has become a success story here as Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra persuaded locals to stop poaching the turtles' eggs and instead earn a livelihood by providing boarding and lodging to the various tourists who visit Velas each hatching season to view the baby turtles being released into the sea. While villagers retain most of the proceeds, a portion goes to the Turtle Conservation Fund set up to help establish a research and rehabilitation centre for turtles at Velas. 

 

Besides this, Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra also  organizes training workshops for students and teachers and gives out an annual 'Friend of the Turtle' Award to popularize the project. A look at the NGO's website shows that it is also replicating this commendable model across other beaches in the state, namely, Kelshi, Kolthare, Anjarla, Mochemad, and Dabhol. In last 4 years alone, Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra has protected 152 nests and released 7610 hatchlings into the sea.

So what did we see when we went there? We were fortunate enough to witness 11 newly hatched baby turtles. The volunteers explained that eggs incubated at temperatures of 31-32°C produce only females, while those incubated at 28°C or less produce only males. Incubation temperatures of 29-30°C will produce a mixed gender clutch. As the hatchlings use light cues to orient themselves toward the sea and are misled into moving towards land due to other  (unnatural) sources of light, we were asked to ensure that our cameras did not produce any flashes.

Above: Covered and numbered nests; there were 17 of them when we visited the beach. The nests are covered with a tokri and a moist jute bag on top to ensure that the hatchlings are protected after they hatch and dig themselves out of the nest

Kids and adults alike were delighted! A couple of hatchlings appeared a bit confused as they crawled off in some other direction and needed to be guided back on track. 

Above: The new hatchlings making their way to the sea

We also witnessed very enthusiastic locals, particularly the children, who told us that after seeing all the efforts of Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra's volunteers, they had decided that they would educate themselves well and return to their village in order to serve it. As for my children and my friend's children, they confessed that they enjoyed the trip after all. While they were a bit reticent about the whole thing  to begin with, they cheered up when they saw the village children, the turtles, the cat in the rickshaw, and the chickens (all in that order, I think)!

 

If you would like to visit Velas, please keep track of Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra's website. The hatching season ranges from November to March and is well worth the effort.

[BIJAYA NANDA DAS]

It is a worthwhile journey,a great effort by the NGO.but in Odisha also a lot of effort is being taken both by Govt. and ngos,u can visit Odisha during nesting season.worth a scene.

DR B N Das

[Rama Kant Dixit]

A good effort for Turtle Conservation. Hats off to the doers. Thank you Mahazareen, for sharing.

[Ravindra Gavali]

Excellent narration and information. Also, interpretive too.

[Rina Mukherji]

Lovely piece, Mahazareen. A heartwarming story in these bleak times!

[Subhajit Pal]

Thanks for sharing with us ! Very informative!

[V.K. Raman]

Olive Ridley conservation in Chennai seashores with aided hatcheries and guiding 

the hatchlings to the sea is seasonal hobby for many honorary volunteers who 

persuade  fisherfolk  to give protection to the hatcheries from stray dogs & birds 

[KANCHAN KUMAR ROY CHOWDHURY]

Thanks for dissemination of the facts. This reminded me of the Lake Chilka Story!

[Sreemoyee Chakraborty]

wow....i seemed to be witnessing the entire event while reading through your blog

[GOPI KANTA GHOSH]

Wonderful...thanks for posting