The Hindu Business Line : `River-linking will harm fish species'

SCIENTISTS at the School of Industrial Fisheries under the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) have warned that the proposed river-linking project will permanently alter the habitat of a large number of fish varieties and may even force them to extinction.

Any move to interlink the rivers will severely alter the fish habitat parameters like flow velocity, nature of substratum, type of microhabitat and vegetation governing the presence of these fishes, they pointed out.

These observations were made by a scientific team comprising Mr B. Madhusoodana Kurup, Mr T.G. Manojkumar and Mr K.V. Radhakrishnan of the School of Industrial Fisheries of CUSAT and Mr T. M. Sankaran of the Kerala Agricultural University.

The team also claimed to have developed the Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) models for seven endemic endangered fishes of Kerala.

These models were developed as part of the ongoing National Agricultural Technology Programme on Germplasm Inventory Evaluation and Gene banking of Freshwater Fishes.

The project was funded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. For developing the HSI models, 53 physcio-chemical parameters like nature of substratum, type of microhabitat, intensity of lux, overhanging stream boulder and vegetation, total tree cover, slope, flow velocity, temperature and channel width were assessed.

These factors were also found to be highly species-specific and determined the reasons for their confinements to an area to a great extent.

During the study, it was found that the critical parameters like flow velocity, marginal river vegetation, nature of sub stratum, fish hiding places and water temperature governed the endemic of the seven species from 70 to 90 per cent.

Any attempt to link the rivers will upset these habitat parameters, scientists said.

According to the scientific team, the HSI is vital for understanding the endemic nature of fish and to protect them in their specific habitats.

Though the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has developed a series of HSI models for the threatened fish species, no such attempts have been made in India, which has nearly 100 endemic fishes.

Such an attempt is of utmost importance in India considering the fact that majority of them are facing the threat of extinction due to habitat alterations, they added.

In the habitat inventory study conducted in the rivers of the Western Ghat region of Kerala, the scientific team identified a total number of 143 fish species. Of them, 29 are endangered, 14 critically endangered and 31 endemic to Kerala waters of which seven are undergoing drastic reduction in number.

More Stories on : Aquaculture | Water | Kerala

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Global edible oil prices crash; farmers may switch crops

Sharp rise in cotton, oilseeds sowing areas

`River-linking will harm fish species'

Warning to Kerala fishermen

Time of sowing sunflower seeds is vital in W.Bengal: Survey

TN small tea growers seek S-T reduction

Low quality hits Coonoor tea

Mixed trend in Kochi tea sale

Positive divergence in NY cotton

`Cigarette imports under OGL may hit farmers'

Huge Govt support still distorting farm trade: OECD

CM announces sops for AP farmers