There’s something particularly horrific in imagining a sea creature dying by drowning; it’s unnatural, contradictory. Visualizing the ropes of the nets twisting around the necks of these animals, slowly strangling, choking, running out of oxygen. Is the death of these turtles benefiting some poor local Indians, eating these turtles because they have nothing else on which to subsist? No, the killings of these sea turtles are preventable. The trawling nets of commercial fisherman greedily cull all of the sea life in their path. Their nets do not discern.
I was there 20 years ago, and I’m proud to report that my organization was integral in bringing the Oliver Ridley turtle back from the brink of extinction. If the local government had kept on top of this issue and maintained our great progress, the Oliver Ridley would still be thriving. There would be no reports of mass death or strandings. When we arrived on the scene, 47,000 dead turtles were strewn upon the Odisha beach, their pungent, decaying corpses shocking the senses and making viscerally clear the severity of our challenge. Belinda Wright sent a series of SOS messages to the best NGOs that she knew of, and no one responded but us.
When we arrived, she took us immediately to the Orissa Coast (now Odisha) and this open grave. She believed, as do we, that Direct Action is what works. We came up with a plan to stop the trawlers just before they returned to harbor. Two Brits, one American, and an Indian Forestry Official constituted our team (the Coast Guard refused to help). The authorities allowed us to use one of their boats for the interceptions. Every night, we’d catch the trawlers coming back to shore. One by one, we’d impound the boats. With loudspeakers we’d announce, “You are now under arrest for violating the Maritime Law of fishing within the 300 meter legal limit.” The boats were seized, the catch was confiscated by the government. The fisherman were upset and wanted to know if their boats would be returned. The authorities decided to be lenient and return the boats after 11 days, with a citation.
The effect was immediate. Turtle corpses stopped washing ashore. The arrests sent a powerful message to the trawlers that the government was serious with law enforcement and its intention to protect the turtles. At the lowest period in 1998, nestings numbered 8,700. Nestings reached over a million two years later.
Action is what gets results. Belinda is an inspiration who advocates on behalf of the voiceless, and isn’t shy to embrace creative, dangerous methods. Always operating with the authority of the government, she leads raids and collects information (I posed as a buyer once for her) and shows leadership to those of us who want to affect meaningful change. Her ways, like ours, aim to achieve results. The reason the death of these turtles is back in the news is because people stopped enforcing the law. There is never a complete victory in conservation without law enforcement. It always takes repeated action and perseverance.
