Asia-Pacific, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Development & Aid, Environment, Headlines

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Dwindling Fish Stocks Spell Trouble

Soma Basu* - IPS/IFEJ

TAMIL NADU, India, Jun 22 2007 (IPS) - Small waves gently lap at the 15 by 15 feet white platform here, which used to be the venue for happy occasions ranging from pleasant evening sit-outs, marriage functions and Independence Day celebrations for the 2,000 residents of this coastal village in India.

But today, it is the meeting place for residents worried about dwindling fish stocks in the blue waters of the Indian Ocean – and what this means for their livelihoods.

The people of Uppoor, located in the Ramanathapuram district in the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu, may have been spared the devastation from the December 2004 tsunami. But they are grappling with the very real effects of their degraded environment, worsened by changes in sea levels due to climate change.

“Some of us saved money and purchased motorised boats. But now, spending on fuel for going into the sea is not worth it,” rues Abdul Qadir, a local fisherman.

Mani Palianchamy, 70, finds it shocking that what has been his family’s occupation for five generations is slowly becoming unsustainable. “It’s because of the deepwater and mechanised boat trawling and various other modernisations,” he says sadly.

More than a third of the population along the coastline facing the Indian Ocean, particularly in southern India’s Gulf of Mannar, depends on fishing for livelihood. Its fishermen are known for their skills with the hook-and-line, and fearless deep-sea fishing for sharks. However, frustration is driving them to the brink now.

Located at the south-eastern tip of the subcontinent, the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, spread over 20 islands and 150 kilometres of coastline, is the biologically richest coastal region in the country. The biosphere is home to 42 species of phytoplankton, 3,600 species of plants and animals, and 117 species of corals, according a study by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation.

Commercial exploitation of coral reefs and large-scale removal of mangrove vegetation are undercutting fish harvests from the Gulf of Mannar, which has historically had a higher than national average production.

Development projects like the Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP), warn environmentalists, also threaten to wreak havoc on the environment. The project aims to link the Arabian Sea with the Bay of Bengal by dredging the shallow waters and creating a navigable canal across the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay and the Palk Straits. The warm waters of these areas are home to a complex ecosystem.

Scientists from the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) of Nagpur, western India fears that the change of sea currents due to dredging can lead to changes in temperature, salinity, turbidity and flow of nutrients, adversely affecting the unique and sensitive ecosystem in the area.

“Already, corals have died due to the modest rise in sea temperature. If the coastal currents are substantially increased, the resultant temperature change could be significant, thereby further affecting the coral reefs, which are entire self-contained habitats in themselves, says Dr V N Karunagaran, formerly with the Swaminathan Foundation at the Muthupet mangroves in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjuvar district. “Changes of ecology and the food chain will affect the fish population too.”

At present, pollution and oil slicks, waste from ships and unwanted cargo are brought away and diluted by ocean currents. But if the Palk currents change due to development projects, more pollutants will reach the coastal areas.

“Canal dredging is also likely to stir up the dust and toxins that lie beneath the seabed. These will adversely affect the population of corals, oysters and sea cucumbers. Other species, too, will be impacted by the turbidity. There has been no systematic survey of the geology of the seabed to be excavated,” according to Rakesh Kumar, a scientist with NEERI.

An upsurge of coastal currents due to the Sethusamudram project can also lead to higher tides, stronger waves and thus, coastal erosion.

A country paper compiled by Delhi-based Tata Energy Research Institute and the Ministry of Environment in 2000 had projected that a one-metre rise in sea level could displace as many as 7.1 million people who depend on the sea for their livelihood.

Studies also indicate that a two to four degree Centigrade rise in sea surface temperature could increase cyclone intensity by 10 to 20 percent. This would not only displace coastal residents, but also devastate low-income rural areas in India.

According to the Chennai-based Institute for Ocean Management, ultraviolet radiation levels, caused by the depletion of the ozone layer due to increased greenhouse gas emissions, have gone up by seven percent since a decade ago. This, says the study, translates into loss of income for fishing communities.

“Data suggests that sea levels in India have been rising by 2.5 millimetres each year since the 1950s. Still, climate change is yet to become a priority area of research, even though several global studies name India as among the 27 countries most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming and the accelerated rise in sea levels,” says Prof. A Sankaran of Madurai Kamaraj University.

“Climate change has a direct effect on our livelihood. But we are completely marginalised by the government and NGO sector,” agrees the fisherman, Abdul.

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS – Inter Press Service, and IFEJ – the International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)