‘Coastal communities should become ambassadors for conservation of turtles’

Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the erstwhile Mysore royal family, called upon the fishermen and coastal communities to become ambassadors for the conservation of Olive Ridley sea turtles and sea creatures.

He was addressing a gathering during 'Aame Habba' - beach cleaning, awareness camp on sea turtles, sand sculpture and kite festival, organised by the forest department, Clean Kundapura project, Field Services and Inter-Cultural Learning India (FSL India) on the shores of Kodi Beach on Saturday.

"As Mysuru is surrounded by forest, I developed an interest in the conservation of wild animals. To conserve fish species and jellyfish, there is a need to conserve sea turtles. The piling of garbage on the seashore is dangerous for turtles," he said.

"I had a desire to visit Kodi after looking at Clean Kundapura's activities on social media. Owing to Covid-19 and other reasons I could not visit. Through Aame Habba, the desire to visit Kodi Beach has been fulfilled," he added.

Conservator of Forests Mangaluru Circle Prakash S Natalkar said, "There is an imbalance in nature owing to the increase in pollution. The locals should join hands with the forest department in conserving sea turtles."

Babu Mogaveera, Gopal Baliga, Gopal Poojary Kodi, TMC member Nagaraj Kanchan, Kamal Manjunath Poojary, Lakshmi Bai, Ashfaq, FSL's Venkatesh, Dinesh Saranga, Nagaraj Shetty, Ashok Poojary Kodi, Raghavendra Kodi, Clean Kundapura project's Bharath Bangera, locals Shankar Poojary Kodi and Reef Watch's Tejaswini, who have been engaged in the conservation of Olive Ridley turtles were felicitated on the occasion.