The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Fish variety dwindling in Gulf of Mannar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 15, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Fish variety dwindling in Gulf of Mannar

S. Dorairaj

Study onLactarius lactariuswas taken up along 12 villages in Tuticorin district "Increased water temperature and decreased rain has contributed to a drastic decline of the fishery over the last few years"

ENDANGERED SPECIES: The population of Lactarius lactarius is fast declining.

CHENNAI: "Are we putting our fish in hot water?" This is the million dollar question that looms large in the minds of the experts of the World Wide Fund for Nature and environmentalists, who are concerned about the impact of global warming on world's fisheries, more particularly the shrinking population of fish, which is an important source of protein for over two billion people.

J.K. Patterson Edward, Director, Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute (SDMRI), which recently conducted a case study on the dwindling population of Lactarius fishery in the Gulf of Mannar (GoM), told The Hindu here on Wednesday that thousands of fishermen, who hitherto concentrated on `Lactarius lactarius' in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, had almost bid adieu to this species, owing to a steep decline in catch.

Tasty and costly

The species has been called `false travelly' by the Food and Agricultural Organisation. It is `sudumbu,' `kudhipu' and `kadambu' in local parlance.

The tasty, costly and one of the most preferred fish, with an average size of 30 cm, has high demand in the two States.

According to Dr. Patterson, L. lactarius is an economically and culturally important fish in India. The coastal belt from Rameswaram to Kanyakumari enjoyed the availability and gourmet of this species for many generations.

The SDMRI has taken up the study along 12 coastal villages in Tuticorin district, which forms the southern-most tip of the Marine Biosphere Reserve and is known as an important fishery zone for L. lactarius.

Increased water temperature

The study has revealed that increased water temperature and decreased rain, which flushes critical nutrients from the land into the GoM has contributed to a drastic decline of the fishery over the last few years.

Continuous, unsustainable and repeated fishing in the same area also affected the fishery resources. The effect of El-Nino during 1998 has caused a change in the climatic pattern. The temperature has risen to 29.6 degrees Celsius in 2004 from 28.8 degrees Celsius in 1996.

The official landing data from 1969 to 1993 reveal that the catch have taken a nosedive from 1028 tonnes in 1969 to a mere 175 tonnes in 1993 in Tamil Nadu. Local fishermen claim that the fishery has now shifted its habitat to the Thalaimannar area of Sri Lanka.

Changed situation

In Tuticorin district alone, over 10 tonnes of L. lactarius was caught a day during peak season from 1980 to 1990. The fish was available in abundance in depths of two to five fathoms and country crafts had good catch of up to 500 kg a day then. The scenario has completely changed now. Fishermen need to travel 40 to 45 miles fishing at depths of over 20 fathoms. Per day catch during peak season has come down to 150 kg and country crafts do not get the variety at all.

Country craft fishermen were able to earn around Rs.700 and trawl boat fishermen got around Rs.1,500 a day during the peak season a decade ago. Abandoning exclusive fishery for L. lactarius, fishermen have now switched over to other varieties, which fetch them only a meagre income, he says.

The case study calls for a detailed research for effective fisheries management to reduce human activities that affect the ecosystem so as to ensure long-term sustainability of marine living sources in general and the L. lactarius in particular.

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