US team reviews safety of Olive Ridleys in Paradip

Paradip: A three-member technical team from the US took stock of the safety measures undertaken for the protection of endangered Olive Ridley turtles at Paradip fishing harbour.

The high-level team of National Marine Fisheries Services (USA) discussed the issue in a meeting with officials of Odisha Fisheries department, Paradip Port, forest and other officials of Net fish-MPEDA on Saturday.

The team’s visit assumes significance as earlier concerns were expressed in the US over imports of sea food, especially shrimps from Odisha. If the team expresses satisfaction over the safety measures, then sea products will be exported to US from Paradip.

The team also enquired about various sea fishes, quality of crabs and the cleanliness at the fishing harbour, added sources.

The team also inquired whether turtle excluder device or TED is installed in the trawlers and boats used for fishing, a senior official said.

A turtle excluder device is a specialized device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman's net.

“The US team particularly inspected about the safety measures taken for safeguarding the turtles and whether norms laid by the government are followed or not while fishing," said Director of Fisheries department, Prashant Senapati

"The technical team of State department National Marine Fisheries Servicesfrom USA visited the Paradip port and took stock of the safety measures taken for the protection of Olive Ridley turtles," said president of Odisha Marine Fish Producers’ Association (OMFPA), Srikant Parida

On the other hand, environmentalists stressed on the safety and conservation of Olive Ridley turtles for maintaining an ecological balance in the environment.