A team of young fishermen from Kasimedu has been silently cleaning up North Chennai’s beaches over the past few years. They’re planning a State-wide awareness campaign on oceanic plastic pollution even as you read this. “We’ve held 30 clean-ups so far, collecting 300 tonnes of garbage,” says K Vinoth, who’s part of the team that calls itself Ocean Awareness. The plastic bag we cast away carelessly could actually disrupt the reproductive health of fish. This is perhaps worse than death, for it can wipe away entire generations. But all is not gloomy on the seaside. There’s good news this World Oceans Day (June 8), with more and more fishermen setting out to do something about plastic in their home turf.
Paddle for plastic
Recently, Covelong Point Surf School in Kovalam and SUP Marina held a stand-up paddle rally from Elliot’s to Marina beach to collect plastic waste along the way. “Thirty of us took part in it, bringing back five kilograms of plastic,” says Moorthy Meghavan, co-founder of the school. A fisherman himself, Moorthy has seen the dangers of plastic on our seas, first-hand. “After the floods of 2015, when fishermen from our village cast their net, all they caught was plastic,” he remembers. This was an ugly sight, one that caused panic, as well as huge losses. “Plastic tends to tangle the net,” Moorthy adds.
Which is why the village panchayat at Kovalam has appointed four people specifically to clean its beach.
“We’ve been doing this consistently for the past one year,” explains Moorthy. The panchayat has also ensured that the State’s ban on single-use plastic is enforced strictly in the village. “There’s no room for plastic bags in our shops and restaurants,” he adds.
Marine biologist Joe Kizhakudan, who has been guiding young fishermen from Ocean Awareness and formed the Association of Chennai Thiruvallur District Progressive Fishermen, says that fishermen are responsible for only 2% of the plastic on our ocean bed. “The rest are by land-based run offs,” says Kizhakudan who holds a doctorate in the breeding of lobsters. “Not just them, every single person is responsible to keep the floor of our ocean clean.”
Trawlers bring in mammoth quantities of plastic waste when they cast their nets and Kizhakudan feels that the Fisheries Department could offer to pay for the plastic if the fishermen bring it to the shore. “They can be offered a certain amount for a kilo,” he says. “This will encourage fishermen to keep our seas clean for their own benefit.”
Reward, recycle
MD Dhayalan, president, Indian Fisherman Association, agrees with Kizhakudan. He suggests that the Fisheries Department can offer to honour fishermen who bring the maximum amount of plastic from the sea every year. “This way, they too will be motivated to do their bit. It is true that fishermen dump plastic waste that their nets collect back into the sea. But we should understand that they also spend for their diesel and bringing back waste means more load on their engines,” he says. A little encouragement and awareness by the authorities can go a long way. “Also, garbage bins should be installed on our beaches. Otherwise, what they bring from the sea will end up in the water again.”
Shallow waters along the beach are where fish breed. “Fishlings feed on micro organisms in this region. Plastic tends to disintegrate into tiny, shiny particles that these ingest, leading to infertility in fish,” explains Dhayalan.
“Around five years ago, the Fisheries Survey of India held a survey in the Bay of Bengal, according to which 56 types of the 100 plus varieties of fish, have become extinct.” Dhayalan attributes this to pollution.
“I’ve not seen fish such as kala , sudhumbu , and navarai for years,” he says, adding that river mouths should also be cleaned regularly to combat pollution. “Right now, most of these are choked by plastic waste,” he observes.
But, there’s hope. Dhayalan says that after the State’s plastic ban, there’s a 10 % drop in the plastic waste fishermen encountered off Chennai’s coast. In the end, it all boils down to each one of us.
- Reduce the use of single-use plastics. Ban the other plastics from use.
- Do not allow untreated waste water to enter the oceans.
- Recycle waste.
- Reduce your carbon footprint.
- Support responsible fishing.
- Increase scientific research on the oceans to understand the processes better.
- Create awareness amongst people to reduce incidents of pollution, including a curriculum in school textbooks that can create awareness amongst children.
- Fishermen can minimise the loss of fishing gear at sea. Carry out gear marking so that the source/origin of the gear is known.
- Do not dump plastic bottles and plastic bags into the seas after they are emptied. Bring them back to base for re-cycling.
- Keep the engines/motors in perfect condition so that unburnt fuel is not let into the waters.
- Avoid products containing microbeads.
