Elderly villagers in Central Travancore have expressed concern over the ‘extinction’ of many native fish varieties owing to excessive human intervention in water sources, leading to man-made environmental and ecological degradation with its adverse effects on the aquatic flora and fauna.
Monsoon is generally fun time for fishing enthusiasts in Kerala. The advent of the southwest monsoon signals a season of sports for many in the villages. People carry casting nets on their shoulders to the flooded paddy fields, canals and rivers that criss-cross Central Travancore. They find no problem in remaining for a long time in the chest-deep chilling floodwaters, keeping the fish trap intact, in anticipation of a good catch.
The flooded paddy fields of Upper Kuttanad are favourite destinations for many fishing enthusiasts. The enthusiasts catch fish with nylon nets, the most-popular type being ‘koruvala’ or ‘madavala’ and a typical drag-net, ‘veesuvala’.
Decline in catch
Studies conducted by the Environmental Resource Centre attached to the Pampa Parirakshana Samiti at Poovathoor, near Aranmula, show that the annual catch from the Pampa has declined by 34% during the past 15 years.
According to N.K. Sukumaran Nair, PPS general secretary, as many as 210 of the 617 rare varieties of freshwater fish identified in the country are found in the rivers in Kerala and not less than 25’% of the freshwater fishes in the State are facing extinction.
As per a study conducted by the Centre for Inland Fisheries Institute (CIFRI), the algal and benthic biomass and diversity were found generally low in many stretches of the Pampa. As many as 69 species of indigenous fishes and 10 species of exotic fishes contributed to the fishery of the river during 2003-04, it said.
Mr. Nair said not less than 30 fish species in the Pampa have been listed as threatened, of which five species belonged to the endangered group. Many indigenous fish species in the Pampa have already become extinct, says he.
Thomas P. Thomas, Botany professor at Kozhencherry St.Thomas College, said efforts should be made to control the diverse types of human intervention in the natural fish habitats, besides regulating import of exotic and alien fish species.
Rampant deforestation and intensive agriculture activity in the catchment areas, industrial, agricultural and domestic pollution, habitat destruction by sand-mining, use of explosive and poison for fishing, etc., were the major threats facing the fish biodiversity in the Pampa, Dr. Thomas said.
