Pampa Parirakshana Samiti, a Kozhencherry-based environmental organisation, has called upon the government to declare the Pampa a protected eco-diversity zone and chalk out a plan to protect the fish species that face extinction.
In a statement issued here on Sunday, PPS general secretary N.K. Sukumaran Nair stressed the grave need to conserve the Pampa that originates from Western Ghats, a biological hotspot, and empties into Vembanad Lake that has been included in the Ramsar site.
As per the Bio-diversity Act of 2002, it is the State government's responsibility to identify places of importance in terms of bio-diversity and declare them heritage sites. A survey to identify the riverine fauna facing extinction should be carried out and steps should be taken to protect them urgently, he said.
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Sand-mining
Mr. Nair said many indigenous fish species in the Pampa had already become extinct. Unscientific sand-mining over the past two decades had led to alarming degradation of the river system, he added. He said a study conducted eight years ago had found that the Pampa harboured 79 fish species belonging to 31 families.
The PPS leader said efforts should also be made to control human intervention in natural fish habitats, besides regulating import of exotic and alien fish species. Twenty-five per cent of the fresh water fishes in the State was facing extinction. Of the 617 rare varieties of fresh water fishes identified in the country, 210 were found in Kerala rivers.
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Rampant deforestation and intensive agriculture activity in catchment areas, industrial, agricultural and domestic pollution, habitat destruction by sand-mining and use of explosives and poison for fishing were the major threats for fish biodiversity in Pampa.