ASIAN AGE (Delhi, India) 11 December 07 Orissa jellyfish trade starves Olive Ridley turtles (Akshaya Kumar Sahoo)
Bhubaneswar: The long wait of turtle lovers has ended. Thousands of Olive Ridley sea turtles have arrived on the coast of Orissa. They are now sighted swimming off the coastal waters of Gahirmatha, Devi and Rushikulya river mouths.
However, these endangered visitors have to grapple with various threats to their lives and habitat during their annual sojourn.
This year, apart from the regular threat of illegal trawling, another menace has arisen that could lead to an irreversible impact on the turtles. Rampant jellyfish trade is threatening the availability of sufficient food for the migrating turtles.
"It is well known that Olive Ridley turtles are attracted to the Orissa coast during the early winter months since abundant supplies of jellyfish are found here. They consume jellyfish as their main food in addition to fish, shrimps and crabs," said Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of Wildlife Society of Orissa, on Tuesday.
"However, the most important food for turtles is jellyfish. These are marine invertebrates which float on the sea and are found in most of the coastal waters of Orissa," Mr Mohanty added.
For the first time, jellyfish are in demand by fish merchants. Orissa’s fishermen are now busy fishing for jellyfish in the coastal areas of Orissa.
It is believed that Chinese demand for the Rhopilema species of jellyfish has led to the boom in the jellyfish trade. Earlier, Orissa fishermen used to discard jellyfish as unwanted catch.
Now these jellyfish are being sold at the rate of Rs 2 per piece at fishing bases all along the Orissa coast and truckloads of catch are being sent every day to Chennai for onward export to China. Since the jellyfish is not a protected species, no legal action can be taken to prevent their catch. However, there is no local demand since Indians do not eat them.
"Unless, such rampant exploitation of jellyfish is checked, it is feared that the Olive Ridley turtles will be deprived of their main food species. If the turtles do not find sufficient food here, they might abandon the Orissa coast forever." Mr Biswajit Mohanty observed.
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