NEW DELHI, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Endangered sea turtles are being killed off eastern India's Orissa state by vessels ignoring a fishing ban in a large turtle sanctuary, environmentalists say.

Government officials say "no more than 800" turtles have been killed since November but animal activists claim almost 5,000 of the tiny olive ridley turtles have died, Inter Press Service reported Monday.


Environmental and wildlife protection is a major concern in India's coastal states but so is creating a sustainable livelihood for poor inhabitants of the region, officials say.

"We are all for the safety of turtles but the interests of the fishermen must also be kept in mind," said Narayan Haldar, president of the Orissa Traditional Fish Workers' Union.

Almost 40 percent of Orissa's 300-mile coastline is off limits to fishermen from November to June as part of measures to conserve Orissa's marine sanctuaries.

"These areas are seeing a drastic reduction in income, large-scale out-migration, clashes over fishing zones, and even suicides," Trilochan Das, another fisher group's leader, said.

The Federal Ministry of Forest and Environment recently initiated an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project funded by the World Bank and being pilot-tested in four areas to address the conflicts between conservation and sustainable economies for local populations.