State tourism board to encourage turtle tourism
State tourism board to encourage turtle tourism
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IF Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation's (MTDC) plans take off, you could soon be walking along the beaches of Konkan watching baby turtles hatch from their eggs and find their way into sea.
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The endangered Olive Ridley turtles |
A female sea turtle comes ashore to lay her eggs, 150 at a time, before she slips back into the ocean. Her eggs lie buried in the sand for 50 days before they hatch.
By promoting turtle tourism, MTDC plans to create awareness and save the decreasing population of the Olive Ridley. In recent times, with SNM's efforts of increasing awareness, poaching of these turtles has almost come to an end in the Konkan belt of Maharashtra.
The turtles fetch as much as Rs one lakh each from enthusiasts who keep them as exotic pets, though the practice is banned under Indian wildlife laws.u00a0
Vishwas (Bhau) Katdare from Sahyadri Nisarg Mitra said, "MTDC support will give us a wider platform to advocate the conservation of this endangered turtle species. We have frequently organised turtle festivals.
There is one on the weekend of April 25-26."
MTDC has already received Rs 120 crore to develop infrastructure in the state's tourist destinations. "There are big plans for this fund," said Kiran Kurundkar, joint managing director, MTDC.
According to an official of MTDC, the tourism body is expecting another Rs 120 crore from the government soon. The money will be used to expand resorts, create tourism opportunities like new destinations, adventure sports, etc.
Turtle tourism in numbers
Number of tourists up from 150 in 2007 to 334 this year. It has created job opportunities for locals.
There are as many as 149 nests of Olive Ridley turtles spread between Navapur and Guhagar. The maximum number of turtle nests are at Velas followed by Divenagar that has 34 nests. These turtles are also known as the Pacific Ridley and are one of the smallest species of sea turtles.
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