Safe harbour for turtle nests

Honnavar coast is one of the breeding grounds for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle which is listed on the IUCN’s red list

The Karnataka High Court’s order directing the state government to appoint the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management to conduct a study on whether any part of the Honnavar port development project falls under the turtle-nesting ground, is welcome. The court, which had earlier stayed construction on 0.8 hectare of forest land, has also directed the Uttara Kannada deputy commissioner to study if the port location has been shifted from the original site for which environmental and other clearances were granted in 2012. Honnavar coast is one of the breeding grounds for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle which is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list. The forest department has been doing a stellar job since 1984 in protecting eggs from predators, hatching them in captivity and releasing them into the sea. Over the years, the local population, particularly fishermen, have been actively involved in conservation activities.

Honnavar is among the six ports, including Manki, Mavinkurve, Belekeri, Tadadi and Malpe, which were identified to be developed on public-private partnership (PPP) model. An Andhra Pradesh-based company was allotted 93 acres of land by the government for developing the Rs 600-crore project at Kasarkodu village in Honnavar. Besides the sea turtle issue, another major controversy pertains to the alleged encroachment of about 250 acres of land by fishermen within which a part of the project land falls. Recently, when the company tried to clear the encroachments, over 200 villagers threatened mass suicide by jumping into the sea. Besides, some time ago, the Survey of India had pointed out that revenue maps of the area were tampered with as a result of which some survey numbers were missing. Changing the coastal border in violation of the coastal zone management plan as approved in 2018 is not permitted as it amounts to wrong depiction of the Indian coastline as accepted internationally.

Tremendous efforts have gone into the conservation of turtles in the past few years and the government should ensure that the nesting grounds are not disturbed at any cost. If indeed the fishermen have encroached upon the project land, then the government should take steps to accommodate them elsewhere. Similarly, altering maps is a serious issue and it needs to be investigated why and to favour whom it was changed. At the same time, the port project too is required as Karnataka’s long coastline continues to be underexploited. The need of the hour is, thus, to strike a fine balance between ecology and development.