Last month, once again, we were off to the Cox’s Bazar – Teknaf beach for a survey of sea turtle nesting sites.
As a part of the Team Turtle’s work, we are currently trying to identify the implications of coastal roads and other mega-infrastructure (which the authorities are currently pursuing vigorously) on the turtle nesting beaches and critical underwater habitats in the east coast of Bangladesh.
Here’s some of the representative photos from our last field trip:
To lay eggs, sea turtles need to make their nest in lower dunes or in the old beach near it.
But in recent years, you’ll find more dead sea turtles than their nests scattered along the beach.
The quiet days are almost gone, as the road rages on.
Shoreline hardening infrastructures are encroaching upon dunes and old beach ridges, clearing vegetation and destroying shorebirds’ and sea turtles’ important habitat.
The newly constructed road (i.e. Marine Drive) invites more hotel moguls to occupy the narrow strip of river plain between the protected hill forest and the sea. As a result, the lands in adjacent areas are being sold to outsiders, and it is a very common scene that sold areas are marked by concrete boundary and hoarding as designated sites for upcoming tourist facilities.
Local NGOs collect eggs from turtle nests on the beach and relocate on the vegetated sand dunes, and sometimes on the edge of river plain too where it is very unlikely to hatch (for some reasons, still unknown, they call it a ‘hatchery’).
Casuarina (Jhau) plantation is available in many parts on the degraded dunes, and we observed that many trees have been fallen to make space for slums of Rohingya refugees. One of the many vivid examples of how a humanitarian crisis in neighbouring country can have an ecological consequence.
Human activities on the beach: (clockwise from top left to right) a road is constructed from the main road towards the beach, fishing gears, near shore fishing activities and a boat is placed in Casuarina plantations.
Faraah & Pimple are members of the TeamTurtle; volunteer Field Assistant for the 2016-17 season.
The massive coastal construction dubbed as ‘marine drive’ is planned to be an 80-kilometer long road connecting Cox’s Bazar town and Teknaf peninsula. Along the world’s longest unbroken beach ridges, the road is something which many conservationists opine as unnecessary and harmful for the protected areas and critical ecosystems present on both sides.
On the eastern side of the hills, the national highway network was already stretched to Teknaf town. Besides, there is another road just on the western edge of Cox’s Bazar – Teknaf low hill ranges. Then why the authorities felt that a third road, just a few hundred meters apart, is needed to connect the southern tip of the mainland?
The road is being built on the edge of protected hill forests; by cutting hills in many cases and over the vegetated sand dunes.
The conceptualization of the project can be traced back to as early as 1993, involving a taka 117 crores project. According to the government, the project started with a target ‘to persuade tourists’ from home and abroad to offer ‘a spectacular view of the sea on one side and mountain on another’. Fund crisis led the construction to be phased out in three phases, and ‘lack of coordination’ between the Roads and Highways Division and the Army’s Engineering Corps also delayed the process.
The first phase was from Cox’s Bazar town’s Kolatoli point to Inani beach. This 24 kilometers long portion was built by the engineering corps of Bangladesh Army and took 17 years to complete. The second phase of the road, a 32-kilometer leg from Silkhali to Teknaf, was expected to completed by 2012. But it is still under construction.
Cox’s Bazar – Teknaf is the region where Bangladesh’s major sea turtle nesting beaches and key habitats for shorebirds are located.
To protect the road from erosion, the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) started to prepare for shoreline hardening works as a different project in 2000, which got the final approval in 2007.
Project Documents and statements of government officials suggest that the marine drive is expected to ‘reduce travel hours’ from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf and Saint Martin’s Island.
The official narrative on the ‘benefits of the road’ goes like this: the road will open a big door for the tourism sector in Bangladesh. Central and local officials are confident enough that there will be more investments. They say, hotels will increase to accommodate the skyrocketing number of tourists, and the road will give the tourists a chance to ride through the hills and sea.
While the natural barriers of rocky shore and sand dunes are degraded, the road is exposed to strong wave action of the Bay of Bengal. Shoreline hardening works to protect the road from erosion, got the final approval in 2007.
This official narrative effectively overlooks the fact that Cox’s Bazar sea beach–Hill ranges– Teknaf peninsula region is one of the unique biodiversity hotspots in Bangladesh. To date, there is no assessment of the ecological impacts of extended access to this region created by the new road. But the negative impact is already started to surface. For instance, the nesting beaches of endangered sea turtles and key habitats for shorebirds are mostly overrun by the road and associated shoreline hardening structures.
Lastly, the mega-project is no more a way to attract tourists only but included in the plan of an international highway network. According to the new plan, the ‘marine drive’ will be extended to the northern part of the east coast in Chittagong’s Mirsharai sub-district. ‘With aims to strengthen regional connectivity, to get easy access to energy stations and economic zones, and to ensure an alternative route’ Mirsharai–Teknaf marine drive road will be a National Highway of 285-kilometer length and 7.2-meter pavement width. It will pass beside the largest seaport of Bangladesh and the largest ship-breaking yard in the world. The total Project Cost is BDT 71700 Million (USD 920 million).
Riasad Bin Mahabubis a member of the TeamTurtle; a volunteer Field Assistant for the 2016-17 season. He studies Environmental Science and Management at North South University.
Sumon Kormokar knew that it’s the baby sea turtles who decide when they are ready for their journey to the open sea! More importantly, the 37 Olive ridley hatchlings he was taking care of were rescued from a nest predated by stray dogs. He was expected to keep them in a made-up nest, waiting for the natural removal of their umbilical cord and their ‘frenzy’ for swimming. Sumon, a volunteer Field Assistant for Saint Martin’s Island in-situ conservation of nesting sea turtles did it well on the last Monday and the night after the day.
Unfortunately, 8 of the Olive ridley babies didn’t make it to the second day. Rest of them, 29 baby sea turtles got a second chance at life on Tuesday morning when they were released in the bay of the Bengal off the west beach of Saint Martin’s Island. Earlier on Monday morning, our local volunteers rescued them from a nest under attack by a pack of 9 dogs. The nest was previously unidentified. Their 92 siblings did not survive the hatch day, they got killed and eaten by the dogs before one of the local boy- Saddam reached the scene and successfully shouted for public help.
For Sumon Kormokar, taking care of still non-releasable babies after seeing so many of them killed was an emotional experience for two reasons. First, he already knew that the mortality rate of hatchlings from the predated nest is very high. Secondly, he was aware that due to lack of volunteers it will not be possible to monitor total sea turtle nesting activity in the island in upcoming days also.
29 baby sea turtles got a second chance at life on Tuesday morning when they were released in the bay of the Bengal off the west beach of Saint Martin’s Island. Earlier on Monday morning our local volunteers rescued them from a nest under attack by a pack of 9 dogs. Photo: Save Our Sea/ Sumon Kormokar
On Tuesday, just after a day of rescuing 37 hatchlings, the team got news of a dead mother turtle in the southern tip of the Island- Cheradia. Locals reported dog-attack while attempt of nesting by the Olive ridley mother. On Wednesday, the same team found another mother turtle in distress, under predator dog attack in Sheel Bunia Beach, which fortunately succeeded to return back to the sea with help but only after aborting the nesting.
The extent of introduced predators’ attacks on endangered sea turtles in Saint Martin’s is really disappointing. Currently there are at least 400 stray dogs on the island, pack of dogs eat the eggs and hatchlings and regularly attack mother turtles while they nest, pack of 14 to 15 dogs even in some cases attack small group of volunteers engaged in patrolling and nest monitoring.
Life of sea turtles into the sea are not like what it seems on TV screen; relaxing and comfortable. They faces dozens of human introduced threats in the water which starts from the trawl nets to plastic debris. Nevertheless they are more helpless on the land, where they come only for very short period of nesting. With their flippers they are very slow on the land, with their head which they can’t retract into their shell like terrestrial tortoises, they are very much helpless in the face of dog attacks. They get killed by predator dogs in 99% cases in St. Martin’s.
Given the extent of Save Our Sea’s capacity we can protect only one nesting beach (Golachipa) with volunteers. Rest of the nesting area generally sees ‘relocation’ efforts by some NGOs, but this unidentified nest and regular attacks on mother turtles show that the extent of patrolling for relocation is very poor. And off-course, the local administration, and conservation community failed to come-up with any strategy for removal of stray dogs from the island.
Olive ridley sea turtle hatchlings make their way to the sea after being rescued and taken care of by Save Our Sea volunteers during nest monitoring activities in Saint Martin’s Island. Photo: Save Our Sea/ Sumon Kormokar
But the volunteer team of Sumon, Aziz and Abdullah can’t wait for any decision by the people who apparently don’t care much. The team spend their time 24/7 for patrolling in shifts, monitoring nesting activity as much they can and also rescuing mother turtles and hatchling from predator attacks. They generally expect to meet mother turtle of Lepidochelys olivacea (Olive ridley) species, Chelonia mydas (Green sea turtle) comes rarely. Olive ridley and green sea turtles are evaluated as ‘vulnerable’ and ‘endangered’ respectively on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Volunteers are expected to help the local youth with conservation activities and taking part in several scientific studies based on their qualifications.
Unfortunately, this threatened situation doesn’t see any sign of improvement in the Bay of Bengal region of Bangladesh. Deep sea trawling without Turtle Excluder Device (TED) throughout the EEZ (Though legally binding), unintended consequences of nest relocation, inappropriate hatchery operations, destruction or modification of habitats and nesting sites, unsustainable coastal development and tourism are bringing more sad news for threatened marine turtle populations in the Bay of Bengal.
Mohammad Arju is a mentor with the TeamTurtle. He can be reached at arju@saveoursea.social
The nesting beaches of endangered sea turtles and key habitats for shorebirds are mostly overrun by the road and associated shoreline hardening structures.
Why they are building a paved road over the sand dunes? It was a question asked by many students with whom I was traveling to Marisbunia; a small locality near the southern tip of mainland Bangladesh.
The question came in their mind, I guess because earlier on that day they saw how sand dunes protect the coastline and secure the land against saltwater intrusion. And probably the answer is; the planners behind the Inani-Teknaf Marine Drive never had a first-hand experience about these sand barriers which works as a buffer against wave damages also.
If the purpose of this Marine Drive is to attract tourists to our ‘Longest Unbroken Beach’ in the world, then it has been designed to be doomed. This road is starting the process of breaking the beach into pieces. The road is being constructed by destroying dunes and vegetation, which will eventually face wave actions and erosion of increased intensity. Already a large portion of Marine Drive near Himchori is threatened by erosion.
This natural landscape is almost gone. The river plain is fenced in pieces as designated sites of hotels to be constructed, the dunes are under the road, and the old beach is encroached by the shoreline hardening structures.
The planners are apparently just unaware that, dunes act as a reservoir of sand to replenish and maintain the beach at times of erosion. Our planners typically got the classroom-lessons without very little experience on the ground and they are now risking it all; nature, coastal life, and livelihoods. In this context, it’s a good sign that interest in fieldwork is gradually increasing among the bosses of our academia. Policymakers, planners and practitioners need hands-on learning processes while preparing themselves in the academy.
I believe, for the students who study in disciplines related to natural or social ecosystems, textbooks or lectures are just the tips of the iceberg, rather they need to find themselves in the very environment they are trying to ‘learn’ in the classroom. Students who study natural and social ecosystems need to find themselves in the very environment they are trying to ‘learn’ in the classroom.
The group of graduating students came here this week as part of their ‘Coastal Zone Management’ course from North South University. Twenty-six students, two of their faculty members; me we tried to run an unlearning process, not a ‘study tour’, or a typical ‘field visit’. They spotted coastal Geophysical features and processes and talked to people from the locality.
It was not like visiting the ‘field’ to put their classroom lessons to good use, rather it was the opposite, exploring the social and natural ecosystems to prepare classroom lessons for the future. I guess, they loved the experience. People protect what they love. If the future generation of our planners can relate themselves with the natural systems, we won’t have to see a paved road on the beach.
What happens generally with text-based and classroom dominated approach is; young mind learns to locate only ‘resources’ in our natural and social systems to use. As long as we consider something as only ‘resource’ and try to find a diverse way to ‘use’, the risk of abuse comes along as a total package.
In these times of sea-level rise and extreme weather events, we need to rethink about this resource-use paradigm, we need to relate ourselves with the Ocean and explore the relationship on the ground.
The newly constructed road (i.e. Marine Drive) invites more hotel moguls to occupy the narrow strip of river plain between the protected hill forest and the sea. As a result, the lands in adjacent areas are being sold to outsiders, and it is a very common scene that sold areas are marked by concrete boundary and hoarding as designated sites for upcoming tourist facilities.
Team Turtle 
You must be logged in to post a comment.