The Recommendation Session started at 3.30 PM under the Chairmanship of Sri T.K.Behera, Joint Director of Fisheries, Orissa.

The following dignitaries were on the dias:

Address by Sri R.S. Mishra, Retd. Deputy Director,Fisheries,Orissa

While thanking you, the organizers of the Workshop for having given me the opportunity of speaking out my mind, I wish to tell you certain things based upon my long personal experience with Orissa fisheries. Since 1970 onwards I am involved with marine fisheries. Moreover more than half of my service period has seen spent in marine sector alone. During these years I was intimately involved with the fishing communities of our coast and the multifarious problems of livelihood they have been facing.

The fishermen of Orissa are really passing through hard times. When I joined as the Assistant Director of Fisheries (marine) Kujang, the main problem they were facing then was the dominance of the trawlers of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal in Orissa's coastal waters. The State Fisheries Department took some bold steps in which I was actively involved. As a result, the intrusion of the outsiders could be checked to a large extent for some years. However, they have started trespassing into our waters again of late. As I learnt, a large number of deep-sea trawlers of other States are fishing in our territorial waters within 20-22 km of our coast-line and also killing the turtles. I have been confidentially told by a deep-sea trawl owner that as many as 4 to 5 turtles are getting caught in every haul of theirs. When we talk of applying TED to check turtle killing, should it not be mandatory for the deep-sea trawlers?

Moreover, TED should be applied in all the maritime States, passing through which the sea turtles migrate to Orissa coast. Why should the trawling industry of Orissa alone bear the entire brunt of turtle killing?

I am also at a loss to understand why and how the sea turtle is considered an endangered species, whose population is allegedly going to be extinct in near future. Some lakhs of female Olive ridleys are coming every year here to Orissa coast. It one ridley lays nearly 80 eggs in one spawning session, just imagine how many turtles are born in our coast alone every year. If all these turtles survive, our sea shall be filled with turtle population leaving no space for other species. Is it not?

If we can take proper care of the hatching and hatchlings, there would be little chance that the species would get extinct. Instead of blaming the trawlers squarely for the killing of adult turtles, let us work for the survival of the turtle eggs and hatchlings, which is an easier but surer means of protecting the turtle population.

The next important problem that confronts us is the depletion of the marine fishery stock of our State. As per an estimate of 1996-97, 1,33,000 Metric tons of fish were exploited from our coast. As you know, the Orissa coastal waters upto 200 metres depth were estimated to possess a potential of 1,25,000 metric tons. What kind of estimates the so called surveyors have done? Are they not misleading? My humble plea therefore is to call the Fishery Survey of India, to set up a Centre here, conduct a complete survey afresh of our marine fishery potential and tell us where, at what depth, what kind of fishes and to what extent season-wise are available. Accordingly a detail plan would be drawn up for every kind of fishery- trawl-net, gill net or long line etc. for the fullest utilisation of the marine fishing potential of our State.

In fact there is a sharp decline in yearly fish catch since 1996-97 onwards in Orissa coast. The last year we got only 1,18,000 metric tons of fish catch from the marine sector. If such downswing continues, the trawling industry faces the risk of complete closure in only 3 to 4 years from now. An investigative survey is a must in order to ascertain the real reasons for such decline in fishing resources. Over-fishing in inshore waters is no doubt a factor responsible for depletion of fish stock. In the past there were more fishes but less fishing efforts. Now are less fishes, but more fishing efforts. Some sort of regulation of fishing practices is a must for sustainable yield of fisheries.

Another factor that might be responsible for depletion of fisheries is pollution, about which a lot was spoken on the 1st day of his Workshop. As you know, big, big fertilizer plants like Oswal and PPL located at Paradip are discharging toxic effluents into the waters of sea mouth, which kill the fishes and planktons on which the fishes feed. As you might know, in 1995 when the PPL used to discharge its acid water into adjacent Atharbanki creek and thereby kill the fishes and crabs, I wrote to the PPL authorities and simultaneously requested Project Swarajya to videograph the fish loss so caused by such pollution. I am thankful to Sri Chita Behera who not only documented the whole episode but filed a PIL in Orissa High Court for checking the pollution caused by the PPL. As you might read from the recent newspapers, the Orissa High Court have directed the PPL management to close down their factory until and unless they prove innocent of the allegation of pollution made against them.

Now more than PPL, the Oswal Fertilizers Company has created havoc among the fishermen and local people of several coastal villages on both sides of Mahanadi mouth. Last year in February 2001, Project Swarajya and Spandan had conducted a joint Workshop at Kharinasi, where several people complained of serious pollution hazards being caused to their health, cattle, vegetation, agriculture and moreover fisheries. Nothing so far has been done by the Government to check the marine pollution of our water, air and soil caused indiscriminately by the Oswal Fertilizers. Now coming to the role of Coast Guard vis--vis the marine fisheries of Orissa, they should apprehend and seize the trawlers and fishing vessels of other States who are illegally intruding and fishing in Orissa's coastal waters with the same enthusiasm and commitment, as they do in respect of checking the trawlers of Orissa on account of turtle killing. I know for sure, the Fisheries Department with all its inherent weaknesses won't be able to check the intrusion of outside vessels into our coastal waters. It is only the Coast Guard who can do the job and thereby render a yeoman's service to the cause of marine fisheries of Orissa.

I fully agree with Secretary of Fisheries who on the 1st day of the Workshop observed that there should be a target size of turtle population to be determined for our coast. If there be a decline in this population size over the years, we would consider the turtle as an endangered species. Otherwise not. Moreover there should be a scientific study of why the turtles visit our coast. So far I remember, in the very year when fishing was banned and there was no trawling operation in Gahiramatha sanctuary area, very small number of turtles turned up for mass nesting. The correlation between the fishing activities and turtle congregation in our coast need be studied properly. The whole range of ecological conditions that conduce to the turtle congregation and nesting in the Orissa coast need be studied too.

I read from one journal that the turtles can stay under waters for 8 hours at a stretch. A haul lasting only 2 hours, can hardly kill a turtle. This phenomenon should be studied properly. I suggest that for experiment's sake we should keep a turtle inside a trawl net for two hours under waters, and see what happens to it, whether it dies or survives. If the turtle survives, we should think that the trawling is not the main cause of turtle mortality. Of curse there is a stress factor involved in turtle death, as often commented by our scientists. They say, a turtle getting entrapped in the net undergoes some sort of stress, for which it dies soon. The role of stress should be studied too.

As I know, prior to 1997, the turtle mortality figures were very low. The highest number of yearly turtle deaths recorded by the Forest Department upto 1997 were 750 nos. only. But thereafter we found a quantum jump in turtle mortality figures overnight. What is the reason? Our Fisheries Department did also conduct a separate survey of turtle death a few years back and found the figures to be largely in correspondence with that of the Forest Department. Even if we accept the apparently tall figures of turtle mortality as presented in various media from time to time, I want to ask, what is the total percentage of dead turtles to their living population. If 15,000 turtles die out of say, 3,00,000 turtles visiting Orissa coast in a year, the percentage comes to 5 only. Is it so alarming?

The trawl owners have submitted a written memorandum on their demands, which all of you are now conversant with. In my opinion, most of their demands are reasonable and worth consideration. For instance, they say, if the turtle congregation is confined to 3 to 4 km off the shore-line, there is no justification for declaring the off-shore distance upto 20 km as 'no fishing zone'. Presently in river mouth areas of Gahirimatha, Hukitola, Mahanadi, Devi, Chilika and Rushikulya the fishing is banned within 20 km off the shore-line. If you add all these prohibited areas, you would find that about 50% of our coastal waters are kept outside the purview of fishing in the turtle season, which is incidentally the peak fishing season too. As is well known, most of our fishing vessels go up to only 22 km off the shoreline at maximum. Under the circumstances, where is the place left for them to fish? By proposing such blanket ban on fishing, we virtually push the entire marine fishing industry to doom.

However I don't say, one should kill the turtles indiscriminately. The sea turtle is no doubt an endangered species and needs our protection. But we can protect the species only when we are able to know, in how many ways turtles die and to which extent, by trawling, gill netting, hooking or by any other means. Only on the basis of scientific studies can we take appropriate measures for its protection. To dispel doubt from one's mind as regards the cause of turtle mortality we need to conduct a post-mortem examination of dead turtles. Sometimes the very turtles which get killed by the deep sea trawling remain deposited in the sea bottom and the local trawlers while fishing do get them in their nets and are thus blamed for the turtle death, for which they are in no way responsible.

As admitted by the scientists, illumination is also a great factor of turtle mortality. For this reason, the DRDO authorities were requested to keep their luminescent lights on Wheelers Island downward, so as not to disorient the nesting ridleys or their hatchlings, which are very light sensitive. Moreover illumination is also caused by the prawn seed collectors, who in the night hours cover the long stretches of the shoreline with the indigenous lamps or lanterns to collect prawn seeds, an illegal practice, and thereby obstruct the turtles from coming ashore for nesting. This illegal practice should be stopped altogether not only for the sake of turtles but also allowing the prawn seeds to grow in the natural conditions. Incidentally let me tell you that the intruding deep sea trawlers which kill the turtles, do also take away the brood stock of the prawns from our waters, and thereby deplete an invaluable resource of our coast.

My suggestion is that the inshore areas around Gahirmatha upto 5 km off the coast-line, where maximum congregation of turtles takes place in the breeding season, be reserved as a 'no fishing zone' with the remaining areas of Orissa coast left for the fishing activities round the year.

Otherwise how can the trawl industry survive? I was told by a friend that only 172 persons own more than 500 nos. of trawlers. Why should our State bother so much about the interests of such a microscopic minority, and sacrifice the noble cause of turtle conservation for their sake? But the moot point is that the trawl industry whether owned by 172 persons or even by a single person, brings in as much as 380 crore Rupees of foreign exchange annually to our country in addition to supplying precious protein to our people through out the country. Notwithstanding this fact, as I told you earlier, our trawl industry has been encountering severe problems one after another- threat from the Andhra trawlers, sedimentation of the mouth of the new harbour and the existing 'no fishing zone' on account of turtle conservation and the like. The way some quarters frown upon the trawl owners as the enemies of the nation are utterly wrong. In stead, we should encourage the trawl industry by all means we can, to continue to serve the nation as they have been doing so far, despite innumerable hurdles.

Now coming to the question of TED, let me tell you that the fish loss is a legitimate concern of the trawl owners. As far as I remember, way back in 1994-95 when the scientists of CIFT demonstrated TED for the first time in Orissa coast, the fish loss was about 12%. Then in 1996, came the American experts who suggested to add a flap to cover the exit hole in order to reduce the escape of fish. We found that by using the flap the fish loss was further reduced to 6%, but as you know from the yesterday's experiments, trawl owners feel that as much as 40 to 50% of the fish catch is getting lost through the exit whole. If this be true, no trawl owner would like to attach a TED to his net. How to ensure negligible fish loss along with exclusion of turtles is the crucial issue before all of us.

You should be glad to know that an easy, simple and low-cost method which does not allow escape of fish at all has come to my notice meanwhile. One Sri Jogendra Dalai, a trawl worker of 'Maa Janani' vessel one day informed me that they were covering the entire mouth of the net by criss-crossed nylon ropes, keeping large square-like holes all over, through which the fishes would enter inside the net, but not the turtles. As I came to know about the background of this device from them, they had started using it just after the cyclone to prevent the logs of wood that had accumulated in the sea bottom, from entering into and damaging the net. In course of time they found that the device did also work for turtle exclusion. I suggested to them to attach a float to the upper end and sinker to the bottom end of the cover, so as to keep the device tight and straight. With this reform, there would be little possibility of the turtles getting entrapped into the holes of the cover.

Yesterday I discussed with Chitta Babu and requested him to see the experiment of this new device in sea. As I learnt, within half an hour of hauling, they could get 3 to 4 kg of shrimp in addition to other B class and C class fishes. The result is not bad. A paper too also been circulated on this device. Though I won't clam the new device to be a great discovery out to solve all the problems arising out of TED use, you might however try it as an alternative to TED. If it is found effective in retaining the desired fish catch while exiting the turtles, you would be free from a lot of hassles by using it- such as cutting your net before the cod end, putting a metal grid there and that too with a proper angle and flap system, and adding extra load and enhanced fuel cost of the engine.

No trawl owner wants to kill a turtle since they neither eat it nor sell it. So they might try and evolve any design of a device that helps the turtle escape without fish loss. As far as I know there are 6 designs of TED, out of which we have tried only Georga Jumper model. Other models should be given a fair trial from the point of view of checking the fish escape.

I would now appeal to the Government to lift the ban on fishing in 50% of our coastal waters. Moreover, if the trawlers use TED, there should be no ban on fishing.

At last I want to tell the trawl owners that the turtle conservation is a world wide concern. There is a lot of pressure on the Fisheries Department to implement the turtle conservation measures. Though the Department wants to protect the interest of trawl owners, they are bound to enforce the required turtle conservation measures.

I compliment the organizers of the Workshop, which gave the trawl owners a scope for ventilating all their grievances. You the trawl owners have put forth your demands before the very authorities, who are now in charge of policy making and implementation in fisheries sector.

The Government before introducing any new policy should consult first of all with the fisherman communities. The resource users themselves should be the resource managers. Otherwise any policy introduced by the Government shall be treated as an imposition. Let the proposals for new fisheries policies come from the fishermen themselves. Then only all the policies and programmes could be fishermen friendly. THANKS

Address by Sri Choudhury Hari Das, Assistant Commissioner, Fisheries, Government of India as Chief Guest of the Valedictory Session

First of all, I wish to congratulate the Department of Fisheries, Government of Orissa and others for having successfully organized this Workshop. I was fortunate enough to see the TED demonstration in sea conducted yesterday off Paradip coast. Already so much has been discussed on the escape of fish, and I don't want to enter into the controversy around it. But as an officer of Government of India, I can assure you to convey the feelings of both State Government and fishermen communities as ventilated here in course of the 4 day Workshop, to the concerned authorities of Government of India and thereby help formulation of suitable programmes for the all round development of fisheries sector.

Though I didn't fully follow the talks made in Oriya, I could however understand that the trawl owners of Orissa coast are very much concerned with loss of fish catch as caused by the use of TED. While taking note of this viewpoint, I would like to tell you that we should not insist on an issue, for which a major share of 3,000 crores of foreign exchange earned through marine fisheries shall be at a stake.

As you might know, since 1996 when the US embargo was declared on the import of Indian shrimp, the Government of India is committed to the implementation of TED. Thailand and Malaysia have already implemented TED in their countries. Similarly we have to show to the world, especially the Government of USA and World Trade Organisation that we don't lag behind others in respect of turtle conservation programmes, and our fishery products are best of their kind in the world compared to that of other countries.

Another important matter that I wish to draw your attention to is that Orissa is well known for Olive ridley sea turtles visiting its coast in large numbers. We are to conserve these endangered species.

At last, on behalf of Government of India, I want to assure to you all, especially the fishermen communities that you shall not be at a loss, if you implement the TED programme in your coast. Thanks JAIHIND

Valedictory Address by the President Sri T.K. Behera, Joint Director of Fisheries, Orissa

We are now at the fag end of the 4-day long Workshop-cum-Demonstration on TED. Such eminent officials of the State Government as APC Orissa, Principal Secretary of Forest & Environment Departmen, Commissioner-cum-Secretary Fisheries Department and Chief Conservator of Forest along with the distinguished scientist Prof. (Dr.) Priyambada Mohanty-Hejmadi were supposed to grace to-day's valedictory function. But due to some other urgent assignments, they could not come here. In such a situation I feel myself extremely privileged to have been given the unique opportunity of chairing the sessions and conducting the discussions and deliberations on the subject matter of the Workshop as a representative of the State Government of Orissa.

Let me tell you that while the idea of holding such a Workshop on TED was proposed, I had told the authorities of the Wildlife Institute of India, who have funded this programme, that in stead of making it discussion-oriented, we should make it field- oriented, which meant that all the concerned parties should see for themselves the results of TED operation in sea and then discuss thereafter the findings in a collective manner. The consensus of the discussions would be informed to the higher authorities of the Government for their approval, following which it would be implemented back in the field. I had told Dr. Pandav, who is sitting here and also Dr. B.C. Chowdhury, the scientists of WII (Wildlife Institution of India), how to make the message on turtle, i.e. its biology, causes of its mortality, its impact on the environment and how to ensure its survival etc. reach the users of our marine resources.

Now all over the world, every body feels that the turtle should survive. During my visit to foreign countries, I found that both Government and people in South Asia, such Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand have been making continuous experiments for several years now on TED with a view to protect sea turtles. When this device was first developed in USA, it was not called as Turtle Excluder Device but by some other name. During eighties it was subject to repeated experiments, following which it was proved to be useful for escapement of entangled turtles from the trawl net while retaining the fish catch. You would see that no body blindly implements TED but puts it to repeated review before implementation.

Then the USA put an embargo on import of shrimp from those countries, which didn't use TED while fishing the shrimp. Some countries like India, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia protested against such USA embargo before the Appellate Body of WTO.The Government of Australia after long 10 years of experiments have accepted TED. To start with, the Government of Australia told the trawl owners just to use TED, but the trawl owners themselves started experimenting with TED of very many designs.

Similarly in our country we don't want that the Government simply declare TED as a mandatory provision under OMFRA rules. Now it is up to you to examine and experiment various designs of TED and choose the viable one and also go for its further modification.

A Participant :
He raises a question, which is however inaudible to others.

Sri T.K. Behera, President
Please listen. TED is always used in some foreign countries where shrimp catch is their main aim. They have also developed different TEDs for different species. We are a poor people. We spend 40% of our total cost of trawling as operational costs only, which includes oil etc. Therefore we want to catch all kinds of fishes. But that is not so in foreign countries. Dr.C.S.Kar, my friend who is sitting there and myself have seen in Australia that they are using TED and giving regular feedback to the Wildlife Department, Forest Department and Fisheries Department. Even they report on the shoal of turtles they might come across while fishing and also on the turtles, which they might recover from comatose stage. If a turtle is found in comatose stage, they don't throw it into water instantly, lest it would die. They bring the turtle up the on deck and keep it there quietly for some time so as to help it recoup.

Now OMFRA the mandatory provision of TED to be attached in the trawl net in Orissa coast has been incorporated into the OMFRA rules. You can tell the Government that we would use TED but with some modification. But you can't tell, 'We won't use TED'. As a matter of fact, we can't go against the big brother that is USA. No country in this world opens its mouth against the big brother. Even we have approached and exhausted the highest forum i.e. WTO under GATT Rules. Now no body would venture to put objection to embargo by USA. We shall have to use TED.

Today you might say, 'We won't use TED', But I know, tomorrow you would say, 'Yes we would use TED'. There are some irresistible compulsions, which you would come to understand in due course, for which you would be using TED.

Every where this is the scenario. The people everywhere are gradually understanding the importance of TED. In our country too, I feel there should be more awareness on TED. Ours is a participatory approach. Unless you participate in a big way, meaningful way, nothing is possible.

We want your participation. Friends, let us use TED. Come forward with your suggestion for modification of its design, if you feel so. Thereafter we shall have a meaningful dialogue with you. Then I hope you shall be using TED in a big way.

Before I ask for a vote of thanks to be proposed, let me give a clarification about some newspapers reporting an alleged incidence of tussle among the participants of the Workshop. We have not reported to the press. We may issue a counter, if necessary.

Participants
Some shouts (contents not comprehensible).

Sr. T.K. Behera, President
Please maintain calm. Let us not go to any other issue. Now I call upon our senior colleague Sri Srihari Patnaik, Senior Research Officer of the Directorate of Fisheries, Orissa to propose a vote of thanks.