Leatherback nesting sites could be overrun by Andamans project

Proposals for tourism and port improvement within the Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands have conservationists nervous over the destiny of a number of the most vital nesting populations of the Giant Leatherback turtle on this a part of the Indian Ocean.

The largest of the seven species of sea turtles on the planet and likewise probably the most long-ranging, Leatherbacks are present in all oceans besides the Arctic and the Antarctic. Within the Indian Ocean, they nest solely in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and are additionally listed in Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, in accordance it the very best authorized safety.

Surveys performed within the A&N Islands over the previous three many years have proven that the populations right here could be among the many most vital colonies of the Leatherback globally. There is concern now, nonetheless, that not less than three key nesting seashores — two on Little Andaman Island and one on Great Nicobar Island — are underneath menace resulting from mega “development” plans introduced in current months. These embody NITI Aayog’s formidable tourism imaginative and prescient for Little Andaman and the proposal for a mega-shipment port at Galathea Bay on Great Nicobar Island.

Little Andaman in focus

The Little Andaman plan, which proposes phased progress of tourism on this nearly untouched island, has sought the de-reservation of over 200 sq km of pristine rainforest and likewise of about 140 sq km of the Onge Tribal Reserve. Two sites the place key elements of the tourism plan are to be applied are each Leatherback nesting sites — South Bay alongside the southern coast of the island and West Bay alongside its western coast. South Bay is proposed to be a part of the “Leisure Zone” the place a movie metropolis, a residential district and a tourism particular financial zone are to return up. West Bay is to be a part of West Bay Nature Retreat with theme resorts, underwater resorts, seaside motels and high-end residential villas.

The roughly 7-km-long seaside at West Bay has been the positioning of ongoing marine turtle analysis tasks. Set up post-2004 by the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Team (ANET), Dakshin Foundation, the Indian Institute of Science and the A&N Forest Department to watch how turtle populations have responded after the devastating earthquake and tsunami, it has thrown up new data on turtles and their behaviour. Not solely are the numbers of females nesting right here vital, satellite tv for pc telemetry has revealed hitherto unknown migration patterns. Satellite-tagged feminine turtles have been tracked swimming as much as 13,000 km after nesting on West Bay, in the direction of the western coast of Australia and southwest in the direction of the jap coast of Africa. One of the tagged turtles travelled to Madagascar, protecting 12,328 km in 395 days whereas one other travelled 13,237 km in 266 days to the Mozambique coast.

Waning safety

For the Leatherback, maybe much more vital is Great Nicobar Island, the southernmost of the A&N group. Large numbers have been recorded nesting right here — primarily on the lengthy and vast seashores on the mouth of the Dagmar and Alexandira rivers on the west coast and on the mouth of the Galathea river alongside its south jap coast. Galathea Bay was, in reality, proposed as a wildlife sanctuary in 1997 for the safety of turtles and was additionally the positioning of a long-term monitoring programme. The monitoring was stopped after the tsunami devastation of 2004, nevertheless it supplied the primary systematic proof of numbers and significance of those seashores.

The A&N Islands are outstanding within the National Marine Turtle Action Plan launched on February 1, 2021, by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The plan notes that “India has identified all its important sea turtle nesting habitats as ‘Important Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Areas’ and included them in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) – 1”. South Bay and West Bay on Little Andaman and Galathea on Great Nicobar, together with different nesting seashores within the islands, discover a particular point out right here as “Important Marine Turtle Habitats in India” and the most important Leatherback nesting grounds in India.

The plan identifies coastal improvement, together with development of ports, jetties, resorts and industries, as main threats to turtle populations. It additionally asks for assessments of the environmental influence of marine and coastal improvement that will have an effect on marine turtle populations and their habitats.

Developments within the A&N Islands point out, nonetheless, that even because the motion plan was being finalised, choices had been being made in violation of its fundamental issues and premises. Not solely has the mega-tourism plan in Little Andaman been pushed despite severe objections by the A&N Forest Department, a serious determination was additionally made not too long ago on the Galathea Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife, at its sixtieth assembly on January 5 underneath the chairmanship of the Environment Minister, agreed to its denotification for the “construction as well as operational phases of the International Shipment Project”.

The A&N Port Management Board had in 2019 floated an expression of curiosity for the container transhipment terminal right here, together with that for a free commerce warehousing zone, and the Prime Minister introduced in August 2020 {that a} transhipment project would come up right here on an funding of ₹10,000 crore.

The scale of the project and the funding proposed point out it could sign the tip of a vital Giant Leatherback nesting website.

(Pankaj Sekhsaria has been researching problems with the A&N Islands for greater than 20 years and has authored five books on the islands.)