WANTON DESTRUCTION: An encroachment into Ashtamudi Lake.

KOLLAM: Though the State Government had three years ago constituted a Special Task Force (STF) for the conservation of the Sasthamcotta fresh water lake and Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam district, the STF could not achieve much, as it was not vested with powers on the model of the Munnar STF. The biggest conservation problem at Ashtamudi Lake is the large number of encroachments.

In the wake of the crackdown on encroachments, the STF will hold a sitting in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. The STF comprises representatives from the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Fisheries Department, Agriculture Department, Forest Department, Industries Department and the brackish water Fish Farmers Development Agency. KSCSTE executive vice-president E.P. Yashordharan heads the STF.

According to old survey reports, the Ashtamudi lake had an area of 54 sq. km. But now it has shrunk to 34 sq.km. as a result of the encroachments. The district administration had between June and September last embarked upon a Revenue survey of the lake as part of a move to save it.

Massive encroachments were detected during this survey. The survey also detected that traditional mangrove forest areas of the lake had been wantonly destroyed to facilitate encroachments. As a result of these encroachments, almost 80 per cent of the lake's banks comprised vertical walls built with laterite stones and granite. These walls prevent spawning of fish. Traditional inland fishermen complain that many species of fish found in the lake in the past are no longer there. It is feared that these fish species could have gone extinct due to lack of spawning facilities on the banks of the lake.

As part of the moves to conserve Ashtamudi Lake, the STF was allocated a sum of Rs. 30 lakh by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. This was utilised to revive mangrove forests.

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