From the North African catfish and Mozambique Tilapia to the South American sucker fish and Common Carp, invasive exotic species are proliferating in waterbodies across Kerala, posing a threat to native aquatic biodiversity. To highlight the danger, an exhibition organised as part of the ongoing National Biodiversity Congress has a section on invasive species. The stall put up by the Asia Pacific Forest Invasive Species Network (APFISN) features live specimens of several species, including fishes and plants as well as the Giant African Snail, now a menace in large parts of the State.
Many reasons
Many of the exotic species were introduced into Kerala for commercial purpose, only to edge out native species. While the Mozambique Tilapia, Grass Carp and Red-bellied Pacu were introduced for aquaculture, the booming aquarium trade was responsible for the introduction of the Sucker catfish and Three-spot Gourami. The Gambusia, a native of North America, was introduced into Kerala for mosquito control.
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The stall also features several species of invasive water weeds like the Water Hyacinth and Water Lettuce, both natives of South Africa and the Giant Salvinia from Brazil.
A collection of invasive plants like Lantana, Siam weed, Singapore Daisy, Railway Creeper, Congress Grass, Black wattle and Mile-a-Minute weedis another highlight of the stall.
The National Biodiversity Authority has constituted an expert panel to frame a national policy on management of invasive alien species. The panel has two members from Kerala, T.V.Sajeev of the Kerala Forest Research Institute who is also the coordinator of APFISN and A.Biju Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala.
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