The seized fishing vessels anchored at the Barunei fishing jetty. Telegraph picture

Paradip, March 14: In a mid-sea crackdown, forest personnel took 47 fishermen into custody for intruding into the habitat of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles.

Forest officials seized eight mechanised fishing vessels from them off the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary coast.

The fishing vessels had trespassed into prohibited sanctuary corridors contravening the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, the Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act and rules of the marine sanctuary.

While the forest personnel’s anxious wait for the arrival of turtles for mass nesting continues, stringent steps are being taken to crackdown on unlawful fishing so that the turtles’ mass nesting area is left undisturbed.

Inordinate delay in the emergence of Olive Ridley turtles from the sea to Gahirmatha’s beaches for en masse laying of eggs by the turtles has left the sanctuary officials worried. However, the officials are keeping their fingers crossed as there have been instances when the turtles turned up for mass nesting in April.

The Bengali-speaking fishermen were from Balasore and Paradip. They were later sent to jail custody under sections 27 and 29 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982, said forest officials. Sea patrolling has been stepped up at Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in view of the annual mass nesting.

With the latest crackdown, 319 fishermen have been taken into custody till date while 73 trawlers have been seized for indulging in unlawful fishing activity in the prohibited zones of the marine sanctuary.

The coast guard, forest, police and fisheries department are conducting a joint operation to ensure the safety of the Olive Ridley turtles. The marine animals began their annual breeding season in November. These species were expected to invade the beach to lay eggs shortly, said Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, divisional forest officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Forest Division.

The state government clamped trawl fishing ban along the 20-km stretch of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary from November 1 last year in view of the ensuing mass nesting. As the nets used by the trawlers prove fatal for the breeding turtles and there was a rise in the mortality rate of the endangered species, a ban on fishing was clamped along the coast. Many turtles also get killed when the propeller of the trawlers hits them, a forest personnel said.