Olive Ridley Turtles, and (below) a patrolling vessel on sea near the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. Telegraph pictures

Kendrapara, Nov 24: It’s a worry of a different kind for the state forest department. Personnel on deep sea patrol voyage for Olive Ridley Turtle protection are undergoing sea sickness. Crew members on patrol duty who are unacclimatised to oceanic climate are falling sick.

“The crews on off-shore patrol are going through bouts of seasickness. We have received several such reports. It has prompted us to curtail the off-shore patrolling duty hours of those involved in turtle protection job,” said Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, divisional forest officer, Rajnagar mangrove (wildlife) division.

“Though things have not as yet reached disturbing proportions, the forest department has adopted precautionary measures like limiting the working hours of patrol personnel,” Mahaptra said.

“Seasickness is a common ailment that affects those who are unfamiliar with deep sea voyage. It’s a form of motion sickness that is characterised by a feeling of nausea and vomiting. It is experienced after spending longer time on a craft particularly on seawater. Mainly the rocking and oscillating motion of the craft causes the sickness. Only some physically strong people with good body resistance become immune to it through repeated exposures,” said Dillip Biswal, chief medical officer, Biju Memorial Hospital, Paradip.

The patrolling operation to stop trawl intrusion into the prohibited Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary has commenced on November 1. Turtles often get trapped in monofilament fishing nets of vessels and asphyxiate to death. Besides, they also meet tragic death getting hit on trawlers’ propellers. Thus, curbing the trawlers trespass is prioritised to ensure the safety of turtles who turn up in millions to lay eggs on the serene beaches of Gahirmatha rookery.

“To protect the patrol vessels’ crews from bouts of seasickness, the number of personnel on turtle protection job has been increased to nearly 200. At any given time, those on offshore duty would not be pressed into service for more than 8 hours, as prolonged exposure to sea condition and rocking motion of vessels on deep-sea is causing seasickness,” said Mahapatra.

Around 30 camps have come up in the Gahirmatha beach along the marine sanctuary. These are serving as rest sheds for tired patrolling crews after stress and strain of sea voyage.

So far, only the local youths recruited contractually for turtle protection jobs are free from seasickness attacks. “As they are mostly from marine fisheries communities, they were well acquainted with the motions of sea and were able to withstand motion of the rocking vessels,” he added.