Sustainability of Native Fish Broods and Rural Livelihood
Freshwater fishes are one of the keystone species of a freshwater ecosystem and also an indicator of ecosystem health. Freshwater diversity is subjected to numerous threats that have been pushing many species to the verge of extinction. One of the importa
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Sustainability of Native Fish Broods and Rural Livelihood Sujith V. Gopalan, Linda John, K.P. Laladhas, and Oommen V. Oommen
Abstract Freshwater fishes are one of the keystone species of a freshwater ecosystem and also an indicator of ecosystem health. Freshwater diversity is subjected to numerous threats that have been pushing many species to the verge of extinction. One of the important threats to the population of fishes is monsoon migration of fishes “ootha elakkam”. The Kerala State Biodiversity Board initiated a project targeted to replenish the population of selected species of native fishes kaari (Heteropneustes fossilis), varal (Channa striata) and manjakoori (Horabagrus brachysoma) in their habitat. The project was implemented in two phases. During the first phase, awareness programmes on destructive fishing in monsoon migration “ootha elakkam” were conducted, and the second phase concentrated on captive breeding of native fishes in two districts, rearing the fingerlings and releasing them back to their native ecosystem. The interventions helped to increase the native fish stock and enhanced the rural livelihood in the project area. Keywords Monsoon fishery • Fish broods • Spawning • Migration • Fingerlings
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Introduction
The Western Ghats is one of the biodiversity hot spots of the world that supports numerous flora and fauna with a high degree of endemism (Myer et al. 2000). The high degree of endemism is due to the prevailing climatic conditions and geographical pattern. Kerala is rich in its water resources with 44 rivers, of which 41 flows westward emptying their water into the Arabian Sea. Most of these rivers originate as streams in the high mountain ranges of the Western Ghats and then empty their water to the rivers. Other than rivers, Kerala is also rich in lakes and backwaters.
S.V. Gopalan • L. John • K.P. Laladhas • O.V. Oommen (*) Kerala State Biodiversity Board, L-14 Jai Nagar, Medical College P.O., Thiruvananthapuram 695011, Kerala, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 K.P. Laladhas et al. (eds.), Biodiversity for Sustainable Development, Environmental Challenges and Solutions 3, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42162-9_20
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Owing to the diverse water sources and its diverse nature, Kerala is very rich in fish diversity with 189 freshwater species and 716 marine species which is characterized by many rare and endemic fish species. It is known that fishes account for the highest species diversity among all vertebrates, and they live in almost all conceivable aquatic habitats (Remadevi 2003). The freshwater fish diversity of the Western Ghats is estimated to be around 288 species with an endemism greater than 50 (Daniels 2002; Dahanukar et al. 2004). The highest level of endemism is found in the west-flowing rivers Chaliyar, Bharathapuzha, Chalakudy, Periyar and Pamba in Kerala. The threats to fish diversity of Kerala include depleting water sources, uncontrolled pollution, invasive spe
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