Coordinator, Orissa Marine Resources Conservation Consortium
Sana Aryapali, PO. Bada Aryapali, Via: Ganjam, Orissa, 761 020
E-mail- otfwu@hotmail.com
Stakeholders in the turtle-fisheries scenario have been perceived as being either “pro-turtle” (anti-people) or “pro-people” (anti-turtle). Throughout the last decade there has been no conducive platform or space whereby the turtle-fisheries stakeholders could come together to discuss and address important problems arising out of turtle-fisheries interactions. It was expressed by some stakeholders such as the space whereby the turtle-fisheries stakeholders could come together to discuss and address important problems arising out of turtle-fisheries interactions. It was expressed by some stakeholders such as the traditional fishworkers group that there should be a common platform to discuss the turtle-fisheries issue. In December 2004, divergent groups comprising conservationists, biologists, fisherfolk NGOs and other interested persons met to form a voluntary and non-official sea turtle conservation consortium in Orissa, which would be beneficial to both conservation as well as livelihoods. The group has been named as the Orissa Marine Resources Conservation Consortium
The mission of the OMRCC was declared to be ‘To ensure sustainable use of marine living resources and livelihoods’.
The objectives of the consortium are:
The OMRCC shall endeavour to include other groups such as:
The OMRCC shall have one coordinator and two assistant coordinators. The term of these coordinators shall be three months. The present coordinator is K. Aleya from the Orissa Traditional Fish Worker’s Union. Assistant Coordinators are Biswajit Mohanty (Operation Kachhapa) and Aarthi Sridhar (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment). A group of facilitators have been identified to provide inputs and support on specific areas such as advocacy (Ashis Senapati), NGO and civil society groups (Dolli Dash), community groups (Buddhimanta Rao), participatory research (Basudev Tripathy) and natural resource management (Dr. N.P. Gantayat).
The mission, objectives, membership and operational aspects of the OMRCC were decided through a collective process but these are liable to change based on changing needs and requirements. Therefore, any changes in the functioning and the present principles and operation of the OMRCC would be possible with the collective consent of the members.
OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES