The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute here on Sunday launched a two-month-long awareness campaign against marine pollution. CMFRI director A. Gopalakrishnan said dumping of plastic waste would lead to the degeneration of marine ecosystem, resulting in the depletion of commercially important fish stocks. It is alarming to find the presence of micro plastics inside fish, causing danger to human beings, he said. Sunil Muhammed, principal scientist, CMFRI, said that an average of one kg plastic material was being deposited in the sea during a one-hour fishing. Existing waste management practices should be replaced with integrated approach using modern technologies, he said. As part of the campaign, the CMFRI has set up an art installation named Fish Cemetery’ to indicate the danger of dumping plastic wastes into the sea. Mayor Soumini Jain inaugurated the art work.
2017, The Hindu.