Written by Intern Rency Gomes || Team Allycaral
Panaji, February 2026: The philosophy of conservation must actively involve local communities and cannot be limited to animal protection alone, said filmmaker Taira Malaney during a post-screening discussion of her documentary Turtle Walker, held as part of a recent MOG Sunday event at the Museum of Goa (MOG), Pilerne. The screening was attended by members of the Jnana Foundation, followed by an audience interaction with Malaney and creative producer Saif Khan.
Set against India’s fragile coastline—where nesting beaches overlap with tourism, fishing livelihoods, and dense human activity—the documentary highlights how sea turtle conservation is deeply intertwined with social and ecological realities. Drawing from the film, Malaney underscored the role of local communities in supporting the work of marine biologist Satish Bhaskar, the film’s protagonist, whose extensive surveys of turtle nesting beaches began in the late 1970s.
“Real conservation needs to involve communities. It cannot be purely about protecting the animal,” Malaney said, noting that community members assisted Bhaskar in identifying nesting sites, navigating difficult terrain, and collecting field data across India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Turtle Walker documents Bhaskar’s decades-long surveys that led to the identification of previously undocumented nesting beaches and helped lay the foundation for long-term sea turtle conservation efforts in India.
During the discussion, Malaney addressed the growing threats faced by turtles along increasingly urbanised coastlines. She highlighted artificial lighting as a major concern, explaining that hatchlings rely on moonlight to find the sea, while streetlights and beachfront illumination often disorient them, leading to high mortality rates.
“Noise, crowds, and daytime human activity can discourage adult turtles from nesting, causing them to return to the sea without laying eggs,” she said, adding that hatchlings on developed beaches also face threats from stray dogs and poaching.
Fishing-related risks were also discussed, with Malaney noting that turtles are often accidentally trapped in fishing nets during offshore mating. While turtle exclusion devices (TEDs) exist to allow turtles to escape, she pointed out that their implementation in India remains inconsistent.
Referring to existing conservation efforts in Goa, Malaney cited Forest Department-managed hatcheries at beaches such as Morjim, Agonda, and Galgibag, where nests are relocated to protected zones to minimise losses from human disturbance and predation.
Creative producer Saif Khan said the film was developed alongside an impact campaign aimed at extending conservation engagement beyond screenings. “Storytelling can have an impact at multiple levels, but it needs to be combined with on-ground work,” he said. The campaign supports marine mammal stranding networks in Goa and Karnataka, conservation education programmes, and initiatives addressing threats such as abandoned fishing nets.
Further screenings and outreach activities are planned as part of the film’s ongoing impact campaign, alongside its public screenings and festival run.
