The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is launching an awareness campaign on May 22 to sensitise coastal communities to the threats faced by marine life and ecosystems and highlight the need for sustainable livelihood and conservation of resources.
The campaign, being organised in connection with World Biodiversity Day, will seek to involve all stakeholders including fisherfolk, residents in coastal villages, students, researchers, marine scientists, NGOs, and people's representatives.
The KSBB is associating with experts in the areas of biodiversity conservation, ecology, and environment to conduct technical sessions.
KSBB member-secretary K.P. Laladhas said the campaign was being taken up in view of the threats faced by the marine environment. A theme paper prepared by the KSBB notes that the coastal ecosystem in Kerala is under stress from excessive fishing in inshore areas, shallow water mining, extraction of coastal sand, destruction of mangroves, inflow of pollutants into the sea, rapid urbanisation, construction of seawalls, and other activities.
This, it warned, will affect the sustainability of fisheries resources and the livelihood security of the coastal communities.
The paper notes that the number of sea turtles along the Kerala coast is dwindling fast due to habitat destruction, poaching, marine debris, and fishing activities.
Commercialisation of the fisheries sector is leading to overexploitation of species like elasmobranchs, catfish, and goatfish along the Kerala coast. It warns that climate change can impact the survival of several marine species.
The approach paper observes that across the world, overexploitation of the fish stock is so severe that up to 13 per cent of the resources have collapsed.
