Auction of fish from the Atapaka tank in the Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) has left environmentalists a worried lot, as the last bastion of migratory birds is being undermined under one pretext or the other.
Freshwater fish, worth close to Rs. 1 crore, were harvested from the 300-acre tank by SHGs. Some environmentalists are preparing to file Public Interest Litigations (PIL) against the Forest Department and the government, while some others are of the view that mere filing of PILs will be of no use.
Kolleru Lake is known for its fish and the Grey Pelicans. The pelicans, which suddenly left the lake half a century ago, began roosting there again after 1,140 aquaculture tanks occupying more than a third of the original lake were destroyed following a Supreme Court directive in 2006.
The pelicans selected Palmyra trees and Prosopis (Thumma) bushes on broken fish tank bunds in Atapaka tank to build their nests. When the number of pelicans became too large, the Forest Department erected iron stands for them to build nests. Boating was started to enable visitors to get a better look at the fledglings. It even gave the area the catchy name of ‘Pelican Paradise’.
Annually, the department releases thousands of fish fingerlings to ensure that the birds do not run out of feed. Fish that were fortunate of not becoming bird food grew to a size that was too big. Even pelicans with their long pouched bills cannot feed on fish that are heavier than one-and-a-half kilos.
“It is these fish that caught the eye of vested interests that master-minded the debacle,” says an environmentalist who wants to file a PIL. He says all evidence will be covered up if he raises questions publicly.
Former Wildlife Warden and ornithologist K. Mruthyunjaya Rao says this clearly shows the close link between the birds and the fish. The fish grow to be more than 8 kilos because of bird droppings. So, more the number of birds, bigger will be the size of fish. He says a committee should be constituted to suggest ways of dealing with such situations without disturbing wildlife.
