Modi govt to soon roll out a national policy to tackle problem of stranded marine animals

Each year, India witnesses a large number of deaths of marine animals which get stranded on beaches. There is no standard protocol yet to deal with the issue.

Representational image of beached or stranded whales | Wikipedia

New Delhi: The Modi government is all set to roll out a nationwide maritime policy to address the issue of marine animals getting ‘stranded’ and dying.

Stranding is the process whereby marine animals, dead or alive, get washed ashore.

According to an official in the environment ministry, the National Marine Stranding Policy will set up state-level centres to address the issue immediately.

“All the regional centres will have rapid action forces, which can reach the spot immediately and rescue the animals,” the ministry official said.

“The policy would also enable data collection on incidents of deaths of marine animals caused due to stranding and improve the training given to those involved in the rescue operations…We would be taking the best practices followed internationally in terms of training, etc.”

A huge problem

India witnesses a large number of deaths of marine animals like whales, dolphins, turtles, snakes, porpoises and dugongs, which get stranded on beaches every year. The country has no standard protocol to deal with the issue.

This is despite the fact that all marine mammals are classified as ‘Schedule 1’ species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. This means that these animals are supposed to receive the highest protection under the law, and that the responsibility for their lives falls directly under the forest department.

A study conducted by the Maritime Research Centre in 2017 found that noise from ships, cargo vessels and trawlers is one of the most common reasons behind the deaths of marine animals caused by stranding. The noise causes the animals to lose their sense of direction and end up on the shore, where survival becomes difficult — causing major or minor injuries depending on the proximity of the animals to the source of noise.

The fact that most people involved in rescue operations are untrained magnifies the problem further, since they potentially put their own lives as well as the animal’s life in danger.