People can always find arguments why something might not work. The history of science is full of cases of people being told things were impossible.
Preservationists are adept in finding arguments against experimental projects for sustainable use of resources. The IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG), while paying lip service to
sustainable use, has a dismal record in terms of actually helping and fostering creative investigation of such options (cf Campbell submitted). In the past, it failed to get involved in the
very conservative egg harvesting system at Ostional, Costa Rica. More recently, it has set up a sustainable use task force that is virtually non-functional. If people in India wish to try
new approaches in Orissa, they should not look to the present MTSG for help. Their efforts would have to be powered by their own conviction that something new needs trying, and that by using
their own expertise it is possible to achieve something better than the present waste.
The reasons for conservation need to be thought about. Is the aim to preserve arribadas for their own sake only, or to preserve the resource so that it can be used, or both? If use of the
resource is part of the aim, the present wastage of eggs on the beach shows that some use is already possible. And of course some use is currently being made of this resource. But this is
largely haphazard, illegal, and not well monitored, very different from the kind of controlled and conservative use outlined in Figure-1.
The alternatives also need to be assessed realistically, as well as idealistically. Despite progress and hopeful signs (Wright et al.
2001), enforcement of wildlife laws is likely to be partial, because with unemployment, the need for better health care, infra structure maintenance, and numerous other demands, there are
often higher priorities for governments. Moreover, suppose enforcement were totally effective and that fishing boats and gill nets were eliminated from the area. That would not address the
waste on the beaches of eggs, those neat packages of protein conveniently delivered to the shore.
I grew up in the war. As children we were taught that waste was one of the worst most sinful offenses. For some people on the margins of existence, it is always wartime for survival. The
present juxtaposition of need and waste is disturbing.
The phenomenon of these massive arribadas is so striking, that even from a distance some of the main biological aspects stand out clearly. Various details cannot be discerned and the
human social factors appear nebulous, complex. No detailed prescriptions are offered. It is only asked that all types of option for the ridley arribadas be seriously considered, that
undoctrinaire and open-minded discussion occur, that people ask themselves if they are comfortable with the present situation and if there is any way in which triple waste can be transformed
into triple gain.
