Coastal rescue centre proposed to help beached, caught-in-net marine animals

If everything goes as per plan, there would soon be a dolphin rescue centre in the district, as well as a few other coastal districts in the state. The main objective of the rescue centre will be to help rescue and rehabilitate the marine animals—including whale sharks—that either get beached in coastal Karnataka or get ensnared in fishermen’s nets.

A proposal for the centre, with an estimated cost of Rs 13 crore, has been submitted to the Director General of Forests in the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. DCF, Mangaluru Division, Dr Y Dinesh Kumar told media persons that they are waiting for approval for the same, during an interaction organised by the Dakshina Kannada Working Journalists Association.

The dolphin rescue centre will come up at Tannirbavi, and its satellite centres will be set up in the coastal districts of Udupi and Uttara Kannada.

According to Dr Kumar, on several occasions, marine species listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act fall into the fishing nets cast in mid-sea. The centre proposes to create awareness and sensitise fishermen about these species, which include whale shark and dolphins. The awareness campaign would be so that the fishermen know the marine animals, caught in nets in mid sea, must be released back into the sea immediately.

The centre will also see to it that the marine animals that get beached will be also rescued and released into their natural habitat and sensitise locals and tourists alike to take measures about the well being of these beached animals.

In case the marine animals are injured, the centre would get appropriate measures taken to get them treated and rehabilitated before releasing them to the water.

The DCF also said that about 15 per cent of the marine diversity globally is in the Indian coastal waters. He also clarified there are 42 marine species listed in Schedule 1 in the Wildlife Protection Act, he said, that would benefit from the centre.

He informed those gathered that there was also a clause in the proposal to appropriately compensate the fishermen, who incur loss when they have to release a Schedule 1 category species back into water. He explained that the fishermen have to cut / tear their nets to free the ensnare species. According to the proposal, Dr Kumar, said that such fishermen, who would produce video and photographs of releasing a Schedule 1 listed species to water, would be compensated. He said that the proposed compensation on similar vein as that of damage to crops by wild animals.

In the proposal, he revealed there is a section that discussed hiring veterinary doctors on contract, as there is shortage of veterinary doctors in the wildlife division of the forest department. It also suggested that the proposed centre join hands with veterinary doctors serving with NGOs for the rescue centre, said the DCF.

The proposal also mentioned, the DCF said, deploying ‘Samudra Mitra’ along the coasts by including fishermen who live on the shore to constitute a rapid response team. This team would be responsible for informing the officials about any beaching incident immediately, so that the rescue centre can respond with and release the marine species back as soon as possible.