Fish kill spotlights pangs of Periyar
The Hindu
Fishermen and farmers face devastating losses due to mass fish deaths in the polluted Periyar River.
It was the changing colour of the water that first caught the attention of veteran paddy cultivator-cum-fish farmer E.J. Baby, 43, on Pizhala island located less than a kilometre northwest of NH-966A better known as Container Road, and cage farmer T.R. Subbayan, 42, a resident of Thanthonni Thuruth, a tiny island located across the Container Road to southeast of Pizhala. Intermittent rain over the previous day had its effect on the flow of the waters they depend on for their farms.
But the fishermen were not expecting what followed. They were familiar with the change in the water’s colour and sometimes a sharp smell rising out of it. But these signs on May 21 gave way to fish appearing to struggle to breath and floating to the surface in large numbers in the waters of the river Periyar.
Subbayan, living in a modest dwelling, is among the fishermen who pick mussels in Vembanad Lake. He is into cage farming for extra income. He found the fish in the cage floating to the surface, either dying or near the point of death, he says.
Soon he realised there was something seriously wrong as news spread of mass fish death in the in the Pathalam-Edayar segment — an industrial area — of the Periyar by May 21 afternoon. The phenomenon continued into the following day when the scale of losses went up with hundreds of tonnes of fish floating dead in this segment of the mighty river.
While fishermen sustained unquantified loss of stocks, farmers like Subbayan and his friends lost around 60 cages in the waters of Moolampilly, Thanthonni Thuruthu, Pizhala, Cheranalloor and Kothad, which were hit by what environmental activists called release of untreated toxic effluents into the Periyar in the industrial Pathalam-Edayar reach.
Like many fish farmers in the region, Subbayan takes up different jobs, including fishing and cage farming, to look after his family. Each cage used for growing varieties such as pearl spots, tilapia and cobia, costs at least ₹5 lakh. A cage measures, in most cases, about 6x4 metres. While the price of fish varies depending on their size and variety, income from a cage ranges between ₹65,000 and ₹70,000 for a season of six months. Around 2.5 tonnes to three tonnes can be harvested from a cage in this period, but it falls short more often than not, given the rise of salinity in water and change in weather conditions.
Cage farmers like Subbayan were getting ready to harvest varieties like pearl spot, which fetch a premium in the market, and tilapia, ahead of the annual trawling ban that is set to come into effect on June 9. During the 52-day ban period for large boats, fish scarcity drives up prices and farmed fish is in great demand. Each of the more than a dozen farmers active in Subbayan’s group may have lost at least ₹6 lakh, he rues.
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