Kendrapara: Drones will be used in Bhitarkanika National Park in this district which will help in protection of the Ramsar wetland. The drones will collect important information on coastal erosion and on the prawn gheries whose discharge of toxic effluents are primarily responsible for pollution of the wetland. The drones will also collect details about the rare Olive Ridley turtles visiting the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary as well as other wild life and marine creatures. The drones will also track the fishing trawlers entering the coastline during fishing ban period.
The fishing trawlers are also responsible hampering the safe movement of the turtles, their mating and breeding at Gahirmatha. The matter came to the fore after a division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Murahari Sriraman directed the state government to use drones for protection of the wetland, Wednesday. The expenses for the purpose will have to be borne by the state government, the court observed in its ruling. The court also directed to use drones also in Chilika wetlands. This has spread cheers among the environmentalists in the district which they termed will go a long way in protecting the bio-diversity of the wetland.
Orissa POST in a report ‘Use of drones sought for turtle safety’ published November 6 had highlighted that the drones will help in counting and tracking of the rare turtles visiting Gahirmatha in the national park. Environmentalists had emphasised use of drones to keep vigil on the nesting sites, spots of coastal erosion, number of casualties and circumstances leading to the deaths of baby and adult turtles. They hoped that the order will help realise their longstanding demand which will help in ensuring the protection and survival of the wetland.
Environmentalists Hemant Kumar Rout, Pradip Tarai, Khitish Kumar Singh, Milan Kumar and rights activist Bhubanmohan Jena said that Bhitarkanika wetland is famous in the world for its saline as well as albino crocodiles, Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, the nursery of rare Olive Ridley turtles, presence of various indigenous and migratory birds, dense mangrove forests, medicinal plants and sea weeds. This makes Bhitarkanika all the more important and one of the nature’s bountiful spectacles.
However, the mushrooming of prawn gheries and the toxic effluents discharged by these units and rapid coastal erosion in Gahirmatha marine sanctuary has posed serious threat to the wetland as well as the turtles. They said that the same procedure of using drones has been adopted on Morjee coastline in Goa where the drones with the help of their 360 degree cameras are tracking the actual position of the turtles.
Several public interest litigations (PILs) have been filed in the High Court demanding removal of the prawn gheries but many of those still exist on some 10,000 hectare of land in Bhitarkanika. The gheries, if not removed, will lead to destruction of the wetland.
Meanwhile, during a hearing on a PIL, August 14, the district administration stated to have removed prawn gheries on 56 plots on 282.14 acre of land out of 76 plots on 319.67 acre of land. It promised that the rest of the prawn gheries will be removed after the rainy season. When contacted, DFO Sudarshan Gopinath welcomed the order stating this will help in protecting the coastlines and the wetland.
Notably, Bhitarkanika in this district, known for its mangrove vegetation, birds and crocodiles, had been listed as a Ramsar site, a wetland of international importance in 2002, the second in the state after Chilika.