Sea Turtle Action Group Meeting
Last week, VSPCA’s founder and president, Mr. Pradeep Kumar Nath attended the Sea Turtle Action Group meeting that was hosted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in coordination with the Forest Department in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The goal for hosting this event was to initiate and form a cooperative and coordinated group that aided in the protection of sea turtles all across the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Over the past few years, beach encroachments are increasing (pollution, urbanisation, human activities and festivals, noise, chemicals and soot from the mines nearby, glaring beach lighting, etc) which has resulted in disturbing the turtle habitat on Visakhapatnam’s beaches starting from Naval Coastal Battery to Vuda Park. As a result, there has been a 20 percent decline in Olive Ridley turtle nesting. The list below shares the problems that endanger the turtles:
- Heavy construction on the beachside
- Excessive beach tourism during the nesting season
- Heavy lighting and vehicular movement (amusement rides)
This socio-economic activity, in the name of progress and human recreation, is leading to the alteration of turtle habitats and alienating sea turtles’ nestings. City planners, policymakers, and corporations are under the assumption that this beautifies the beaches; however, this further hurts the residents living along the coast and all the aquatic flora and fauna.
The Kurusura Submarine Museum was established at the beach, thus destroying 1,014 square yards of pristine turtle nesting habitat, which led to sea turtles avoiding this area to nest. Our team at VSPCA took this seriously and filed a lawsuit to prevent this from going ahead. We are instrumental in exposing projects that do not support a healthy ecosystem. Our main goal was to ensure that the sea turtles had access to safe nesting areas. Sadly, we were met with constant threats, detention, as well as various other prosecutions.
Please visit our website for more information and to join us in our fight in saving the sea turtle habitat!