My ancestral home is adjacent to backwaters
but my awareness of freshwater ecosystem is quite limited so is the knowledge
of issues related to Vembanad lake, probably because I haven’t spent too much
time here. But that is not an excuse whatsoever, and I also know some houseboat
owners who lack awareness of fragile nature of ecosystem nor elicit any
keenness to know. Indeed there is a space for Naturalist to work in high end tourist
houseboats, there is so much to explore here from fresh water, estuarian to
marine species as also amazing diversity of avian species. Unfortunately Indian
tourists are one of the least responsible or educated, subtleties of life tend
to miss most Indians, and the more money they have the crass they come. Shows
what kind of people market capitalism in mix with primitive nature of this
society is nurturing in the name of development.
Vembanad is the largest wetland system in the
country that is also a Ramsar site. It is unique in many ways. Over the years
it has degraded, indeed it started in 1820s with reclamation for paddy
cultivation. Kuttanad being the rice bowl, uniquely located below sea level. This
grew much urgent in 1940s with Burma crisis. There was a constant and
persistent move of common property resource towards private hands. 1960s
brought in chemical fertilizer and pesticide intensive green revolution which
contributed to further degradation of the ecosystem. Thannermukkam bund (salt
water barrier), major construction on the lake in 1970s, cordoned off the fresh
water from marine. Thus preventing migration of aquatic species as also
increasing siltation as the bund was kept closed due to farmer lobby.
Profusion of hyacinths and clogging of major portion of riverine part of the
lake can be traced to these events while eutrophication played its part. Next
came backwater tourism, the number of houseboats is mindboggling as there is a
stampede to cash in, and so begins damage due to solid waste disposal, specifically plastics irresponsibly disposed by tourists and locals (plastic from devotees at Sabarimala also floats into this lake), and appalling sanitation conditions that has brought
diseases like dengue, chikungunya and rat disease (leptospirosis). The oft
repeated story of economic prosperity through environmental degradation has
negative impact on fragile ecosystem as also livelihood of fishermen.
It was with this background that
I decided to participate in Vembanad fish survey 2018 -proclaimed as ‘democratic
fish monitoring’, a motley group of experts and volunteers while I snugged in
as ‘local resident’ to embolden the ‘democracy’ claim. Ostensibly a survey but
it also aims to protect Vembanad ecosystem by creating inventory of fish diversity
as also spreading awareness. Over the years they have been able to motivate to
create ‘Lake protection forum’ as also mini fish sanctuary -an initiative by
fisherfolks without any help from external agency (that seeks to provide
breeding grounds for fishes through bamboo barricades). We were divided into
three groups and assigned three regions, in these three region five spots were
identified for sample collection. Three types of nets were used 1)Gill nets
2)Cast nets 3)Scoop nets. Cast net were of two types 35mm and 50 mm that were
laid overnight while cast nets and scoop nets were applied 5times each in each
location. The samples were collected, identified, parameters like weight and
length noted. Our team was headed by ichthyologist Mr Anwar from KUFOS (Kerala University of
Fisheries and Ocean Studies) who was extremely knowledgeable and passionate
about his profession. He explained about each specie that was caught including
scientific as well as local knowledge (including taste! The man surely knew his
fishes), some went to the freezers while the rare to aldehyde for genetic
sampling. He elaborated about whether the fish was herbivorous or carnivorous,
sexual dimorphism (rare occasions when both male and female were caught)
parental care fishes, parasites so on. Meanwhile some also studied the water
samples.
Catch per unit was calculated by measuring time. Mr. Anwar discussed
about night diversity, and that one would find more catfish. Since it had
rained most catch were fresh water fishes. He also narrated interesting
anecdote related
to Green chromide aka pearl fish aka Karimeen, the state fish of Kerala, that the scientific name Etroplus suratensis has origin in Surat town
in Gujarat where it is only an introduced specie, product of mistaken
attribution by British ichthyologist. As also Green chromide has a unique symbiotic
relation with Orange chromide (Pseudetroplus
maculatus aka Pallathi) wherein
it allows the later to devour its babies (fry) in return for removing parasites
as Orange chromide specialise as ‘cleaner fish’. That should be some benchmark
for utilitarianism! Highlight, atleast for me, was witnessing the smallest
fresh water endemic fish in India: Horadandia
brittani. Perky little adorable fish that one.
From our trip, that started at
6am and finished at 2.30pm, we were able to document 30odd fin fish and three
shell fish. Quite an interesting day for me. I must mention I kept an eye open
for birds too, as we navigated around luscious fruit bearing ‘suicide trees’(Cerebra odollam that kills atleast one
person a day across this region and east asia), and not very surprisingly
Stork-billed Kingfishers are in abundance. Before I conclude this blog I need
to add a scene wherein acres of land, that had coconut trees and vegetable
gardens, was reclaimed by lake through flooding. On the one hand it was hoary sight with
dead trees spreading the horizon in a dystopian nightmare while it provided
space for nesting avian population. A local farmer when asked said “There is a truth
between earth and sky, it will find its way”.
