In the backdrop of the harsh impacts of climate change on fishing communities, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has launched an initiative to give awareness to the fisherfolk on the science behind climate change and the adaptation strategies to adopt under National Innovation in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project.
On Saturday, there was an interaction with the fishing community of two major fishing villages in Ernakulam —Kuzhippilly and Chellanam. Fisherfolk spoke of poor catches and challenges in marketing their products.
Scientists explained some of the known causes for poor catch. “Increasing sea surface temperatures results in migration of many economically harvestable fish stock to relatively cooler waters leading to a shift in fish distribution thus affecting the fish catch.”
They also said that rising temperature is causing a decline in dissolved oxygen levels in inland waterbodies. “This can lead to increased fish kills and make aquatic species susceptible to diseases due to weakened immune systems.
The awareness campaign was led by principal investigator of the project Grinson George, centre coordinator Ratheesh Kumar R and co-principal investigator Reshma Gills.
During the interactive session, the fisher community flagged the issues being faced by them. To address the issue of low shelf life of locally harvested fish due to increasing temperature, CMFRI distributed ice boxes to fisherwomen in Chellanam. A total of 37 boxes were given to women fishers who are involved in local subsistence fishing activity in the village. They were also provided with gillnets, cast nets, pots and seabass fish seeds.