India: Fishers in Survival Battle With Turtles
Recently there has been an increasing amount of endangered olive ridley sea turtles that have been killed by fisherman who are ignoring a fishing ban on a turtle sanctuary. The Government of India says no more than 800 of these turtles have been killed recently, but actual numbers could be near 5000. Wildlife protection is a major concern for India, but the well being of the poor fisherman is also a concern. Due to overfishing and shrinking fishing grounds, it is becoming harder for these fisherman to catch fish and make a profit. They are having to go out further in search of fish, and so many of them are fishing in the sea turtle sanctuary which is supposed to be a non fishing area. Something needs to be done to protect the turtles, but that can also keep the less fortunate fisherman with a way of life. One possible solution is for the government to fine fisherman who fish in the no fishing zone, but they should also open small areas to fisherman so that they have more areas to fish. There are some flaws in this approach, such as not all fisherman may be caught illegally fishing, and some fisherman still might not be able to make a profit. I feel that no matter what, the sea turtle species should be protected. However, the fisherman should be provided with some sort of compensation.
I agree that both the fisherman and the sea turtles need to be treated fairly in this situation. First of all, the sea turtles should be protected from fisherman in certain areas to lessen the number killed. The fishing zone could be expanded or realigned so that the fisherman benefits while not hurt the sea turtles. Either way the government should enforce laws that protect the sea turtles from the fisherman. This would not be a perfect system, but I'm not sure such a system exists. Each party needs to be taken into consideration to reach a successful solution.
ReplyDeleteIf the turtles are becoming endagered, then obviously they should come first. Fishermen may have a hard time making a profit but we are talking about a species that is beginning to die out. There are a lot of things to consider here though, because the fish also need to be protected so it would be unfair to the fish to expand the fishing zone for the fisherman.
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