Turtles find friends in poachers

World Turtle Day in India witnessed a success when again a cadre of turtle poachers gave up commercial harvesting of turtles from the Ghaghra-Sarju river system in the Tarai (foothills of Himalaya along Indo-Nepal border). The turtle poacher conversion workshop, held at Ghaghraghat along Ghaghra River, was the result of many days of hard negotiating by project coordinator, Shailendra Singh, just to make contact with the poachers and represents a significant step towards finding sustainable solutions to the Indian turtle conservation crisis.

The Ghaghra-Sarju river system along Tarai supports one of the few remaining populations of Crowned River Turtles (Hardella thurjii), Indian Narrow headed Soft-shell Turtle (Chitra indica), Indian Eyed Turtle (Morenia petersii) and spotted pond turtles (Geoclemys hamiltoni) along with other soft-shell turtles such as Nilssonia gangeticus and N. hurum. Soft-shell turtle species are extensively hunted for the commercial trade of calipee (outer cartilaginous rim) and meat throughout north India while hard-shell turtle species like Hardella and Geoclemys are killed for local consumption. Significant numbers of turtles are also accidentally caught and killed every year in fishing equipment such as nylon nets. Besides the species status and trade assessments, these TSA-MCBT India Turtle Program meetings have been working for the last three years to convert turtle poachers and to find ways to provide them with alternative livelihoods such as eco-friendly micro-enterprises.

Thirty five people participated in the meeting which lasted several hours due to a number of heated discussions ranging from local socioeconomics to global conservation. Over 80% of the participants finally agreed to work with the project team and signed a pledge not to commercially harvest freshwater turtles from the area.

A series of follow-up meetings will be held in this region in the near future to pebble the path towards forming several “River Conservation Committees” for critical stretches along the river course. Under the aegis of TSA-MCBT program, such committees will include the ex-turtle poachers, fishermen (who use eco-friendly fishing methods), local community leaders and regional conservation NGOs. These committees will initially advise on local turtle conservation measures and possible alternative livelihood options for poachers but it is hoped that they will eventually take the lead in community based turtle conservation.