MARGAO: Around 450 Drishti Marine lifesavers and 50 Forest Department officials received intensive training in handling a variety of marine strandings on Goa’s beaches, including those involving dolphins, turtles, snakes and wild birds.
Lifesavers on beaches are the designated first responders to any emergency involving humans as well as other species in distress along beach stretches.
The training programme kicked off in the presence of Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) of North Goa, Anand Jadhav at Sinquerim beach and DCF of South Goa, Aniket Gaonkar at Benaulim beach, conducted by resource persons from the NGOs Terra Conscious and Chameleon Wildlife Rescue Organisation. Reefwatch
Marine Conservation, a specialist NGO, was also part of the training sessions during the week.
“Our capacity-building efforts are crucial in addressing the unique challenges of marine conservation. This initiative is our way of committing to improving our expertise in marine life management and conservation,” said DCF Anand Jadhav, who represented the Forest Department which led the training programme initiative.
“The reason why this training is necessary is because injured wild species have very specialised needs and there are specific protocols that are globally accepted that have to be followed in accordance with the Wildlife Protection Act,” said Puja Mitra from Terra Conscious.
“We learned four distinct handover codes that guide our actions, involving photo documentation, location sharing with the Marine Stranding Group, and
appropriate responses, including veterinary care or post-mortem procedures,” added lifesaving instructor Amit Shinde.
