From kachhapa@GMAIL.COM Sun Jul 10 14:26:32 2005 Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 02:08:00 -0400 From: Biswajit MohantyTo: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU Subject: Fish species threatened in Orissa [ The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] The following news appeared in The Statesman Dt. 7.7.2005 Extinction spectre haunts fish Statesman News Service CUTTACK, July 6. ^× Natural fish stocks in the rivers and lakes of Orissa are threatened with extinction due to unrestricted fishing during the breeding season in the state. While unregulated fishing is driving some fish population in the state to extinction, the fish catch from Mahanadi river had reportedly gone down by 76 per cent. Lack of a ban on fishing during the breeding season has been increasingly posing the threat. The threat to natural fish stocks in Orissa assumes significance as the state is already largely dependent on Andhra Pradesh. The southern state supplies nearly 45,000 tons of freshwater fish every year to meet the high local demand in the state. Wildlife activists blame the state government for its indifference to the threat of extinction of natural fish stocks of the state. They feel the situation warrants a two-month fishing ban in rivers and natural lakes to ensure spawning of fish. ^ÓWe have been demanding such a ban and construction of fish ladders for the past seven years. But nothing tangible has followed (except being under active consideration) due to sheer administrative apathy of the fisheries department^Ô, says Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) secretary, Mr Biswajit Mohanty. According to experts fishing ban and construction of fish ladders ensure that natural fish stocks are replenished. Since fish is a natural resource which should be harvested in a scientific and sustainable manner, many countries of the world have banned fishing during breeding season after fishery experts warned of the danger of extinction of some fish species. In fact fishing during breeding season hadalready been banned in rivers, lakes and sea by the Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments. Migratory fish like hilsa, which travel long distances inland through rivers like the Mahanadi, Brahmani, Baitarani, Subarnarekha, etc. are highly affected. Similarly, mullets (khainga) which migrate to the sea for spawning are also becoming rare. For the last two years, hilsa migration has failed in Mahanadi River.Hilsas caught from the sea are only available in the markets of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar at exorbitant prices of Rs 200 per kg. The WSO secretary said a recent survey in the Mahanadi river had revealed a steep fall in fishermen incomes due to a decline as high as 75 per cent in fish catch during the last five to seven years. Fishermen ofMundali, Padmavati, Kantilo, Kandarpur, Banki villages have seen a drastic decline in fish catch. They also say that big breeder fish are becoming increasingly rare and the average size of common river carp species like rohu, catla, mrigal had declined to 1- 2 kgs. Earlier they used to net large specimens weighing fish 4- 6 kgs regularly. Fish migration in rivers of Orissa is also affected due to lack of ^Ófish friendly^Ô barrages and dams which they are unable to cross. During the monsoon floods, fish tend to move upstream for spawning purposes. In many countries, ^Ófish^Ô ladders are provided in all barrages, dams, canal locks, anicuts, etc to enable fish to move freely and fishing near ^Ófish ladders^Ô is strictly prohibited. In Orissa such egg-bearing fish are caught unchecked at the barrage and dam gates. Gravid or egg- bearing fish are prevented from crossing the river mouths by gill nets which act as ^Ówalls of death. The abundance of gravid fish and prawns in the markets presently is a testimony to it. Almost all fresh water fish like rohu, mrigal, cat fish etc., and marine species like hilsa, sea perch (bhekti) and mullets (khainga) are full of lakhs of eggs which in normal course would have hatched and replenished wild fish populations END OF NEWS Biswajit Mohanty, Dated : 7th July,2005