As secretary, Wildlife Society of Orissa, Mohanty has been instrumental in turtle conservation efforts in the state and neighbouring areas. The gradual shrinkage of freshwater and marine turtle population in India has been a major cause for concern for wildlife activists like Biswajit Mohanty. As secretary, Wildlife Society of Orissa, Mohanty has been instrumental in turtle conservation efforts in the state and neighbouring areas. A member of the National Board for Wildlife, chaired by the Prime Minister, Mohanty was recently invited by the State Department of the US government for a three-week education and exposure programme. He was also felicitated with the Ford Conservation & Environmental Award. Mohanty speaks to Prasanta Paul of Deccan Herald on threats faced by freshwater turtles in India. Excerpts: Explain the nature of threat to fresh water turtles in India. Turtles play a vital role in the aquatic eco-system; they eat dead fish and other wastes and keep the water clean. Due to increasing human interference, they are becoming endangered. The biggest threat in the riverine areas is the high level of poaching and illegal trade. The second area of concern is uncontrolled fishing in the rivers. You then say that fishermen indulge in poaching and illegal trade of turtles? That is partly true. In the first place, turtles often get caught in fishermen's net in the rivers; no single fishing trawler is fitted with turtle excluder device. It's a horrifying scene to see hundreds of turtles killed accidentally during fishing. Secondly, poverty is another factor that has been driving poor fishermen into the poaching racket. Also, in turtle-populated rivers of India, water pollution is fast emerging as a major threat. Dumping of plastics on the river, for instance, is not only increasing the pollution level of water, but are also dangerous to turtles as they feed on floating plastics assuming them to be jellyfish and die a painful death. Besides, artificial lights near river banks and erosion of soil are also contributing to the dwindling of turtle population. Give us a glimpse of the poaching and illegal trading of turtles. Traders operate in various ways. First, they camp in villages and lure fisher folk into trapping the creatures along with their normal catch. Once turtles are caught and ferried to the bank, traders pay up the agreed amount