Panaji: For thousands of years, the turtle placed the entire coastline of Goa, but the last few decades saw this change with Goa fin friends which were limited to four stretches.
Here too, now, the draft plan of coastal management has thrown more obstacles by limiting the nesting areas in the coastal stretch.
Overlay boundar ports, besides other components that are lost on the map, stand up to impact too.
Citizens, scientists and lawyers have marked the problems of reduced space and the increasingly hostile conditions for Olives Ridley Turtles during the recent public hearing at the draft plan of the coastal zone management (CZMP).
Mandrem and Morjim Beach in Pernem and Agonda and Galgibaga in Canacona appointed Kura-Kura Nesting Site under the Notification of Coastal Regulations (CRZ), 2011.
However, it is said that to achieve a balance between tourism and turtle conservation, the government has been reserved, the Government , Especially on Morjim Beach and Agonda, small patches for nesting.
Not understanding the dynamics of government planning, fin visitors use other areas and beaches from where, even at risk of hurting them, eggs are then transferred to hatching areas in protected spaces.
The overlay port limit into the Morjim and Galgibaga nesting sites is another big problem, because port activities can be proven fatal and dangerous for marine species.
“It will erode the beach and the dunes will be lost.
There will be a lot of noise under water, pollution will improve manifold and it will be a disaster for marine reptiles, turtles, dolphins and other species,” said Management of Trustees, Trust Turtle Morjim and Bachelor of Sea and Coastal Policy, Sarita Fernandes.
Guidelines for preparation of the coastal plan do not refer to port limit marking.
“But they are specific about environmental features, activities and infrastructure related to the local community,” Xavier Fernandes from citizens for the coastal community, a voluntary organization.
CRZ 2011 notification states that nesting mothers are very sensitive to human disorders such as vehicles, light, sound and tourism density.
“They need protection, but the nesting sites may not survive if the port limit is not removed,” said Environmental Activist Abhijit Prabhudesai.
In recent years, the disruption of nesting land continued, although there were rules for curling noise and pollution.
“Turtles arrived as far as 9,000 km and had to maneuver through fish nets, trawls, water sports vehicles and other obstacles,” Fernandes said.
The danger lies at each step for marine life, as shown by research conducted by Goa Marine Wildlife Stranding and Monitoring Network, collaborative initiative between Marines Drishti, the State Forest Department, India Audit and Reefwatch India.
During the period June 29, 2017, until June 29, 2021, a total of 141 stranding Cetacea, including 141 Cetacea and 339 turtles (Live / Dead), reported by the network.
Unlike Odisha, where nesting masses in thousands of occurrences, Morjim is the place of conservation of turtles pioneered on a simple scale in the late 1990s.
Galgibaga follows after a priest, Fr Mariano Proenca plays an important role in starting local conservation efforts.
The coastal plan also missed ordered forest markings, the dunes and seacreen beds in the four nesting sites.
Although the Department of Forest Board refers to the Talpona-Galgibaga Turtle Nesting site, Talpona is not shown in the plan.
Residents also reject the division of turtle nesting in the commercial and non-commercial zone, in accordance with the draft turtle management plan, which will only help continue the conflict between the interests of conservation and tourism.
The key element of climate change is also lost in the plan.
“The problem of climate change, the risk of coastal disasters and the sizes of adaptation and mitigation proposed to coast nesting turtles need to be handled according to some climate change conventions, where India is a part like the Paris deal 2030,” Fernandes said.