A National workshop on community-based fish conservation models in India was held in Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) on December 1, 2023. This workshop was attended by researchers from IIHS, Bengaluru, Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning (FERAL), Tamil Nadu, Sikkim University, Gangtok, St. Anthony’s College, Shillong, Wildlife Conservation Trust, Mumbai, Foundation for Rivers and Ecosystems, Bengaluru, The Nature Conservancy, US, Fishery Professionals from Tata Trust, Pune, Conservation practitioners from Jeevitnadi, Pune, and the students from Christ University, Bengaluru.
Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy, the project lead, IIHS, welcomed all the participants and gave an overview of the project and objectives of this workshop. Freshwater ecosystems are more threatened than the terrestrial ecosystems and hence, study and conservation of these systems is of immediate need. He emphasised on the fact that the conservation of freshwater systems is not a part of any of the sustainability goals and hence, developing conservation plans for free-flowing Rivers should be a priority. He highlighted different threats to free-flowing Rivers in India and explained the need for a community-based River Conservation in India. He spoke about the CEPF work that is being carried out in North-East India. He emphasised that partnerships between civil society, government and local communities are the only way to conserve fish in head-water streams.
Dr Bashida Massar, Project Partner, St. Anthony’s College, Shillong and Dr. James Haokip, Project Partner, Sikkim University, Gangtok, spoke about the CEPF projects that have been implemented in Meghalaya and Manipur states, respectively. Dr. Bashida Massar spoke about her journey in establishing FCZ and the challenges she faced while establishing FCZs. Khasi tribal community is known to eat anything that moves or crawls and Dr. Massar’s efforts in convincing the community to conserve River systems and fish is admirable. In 2021, the first FCZ was declared in Lapalang Village in Meghalaya. In two years', a recovery in fish numbers was observed in this FCZ. This success story inspired the surrounding villages and a second FCZ was identified along the River Rymben in a stretch shared by five village committees in May 2023. However, declaring of this second FCZ was not easy as there were five different villages were involved and there were some objections posed by individuals which needed to be addressed. Dr. Massar managed to address all the concerns by individuals and managed to declare the FCZ in October 2023.
Dr. Haokip spoke about Fish Conservation Zone, the weaknesses and way-forward. He presented the challenges that he faced while setting up and after setting up the first FCZ in Khengjong-Yangoulen Villages in 2021. He said that it was easier to establish the FCZ but keeping the people engaged and interested in managing and maintaining this FCZ was a great challenge. He faced
difficulties once the the Yangoulen Village Chief was changed, and it took a great effort to convince the new Chief on the importance of protecting and conserving Rivers and following the FCZ rules and regulations by the two villagers. He emphasised on the need for continuous engagement of villagers in patrolling and monitoring the FCZ sites. He and his team has managed to establish another FCZ in L. Bongjoi and Moljol Villages along the Tuivang River in 2023. He also provided some suggestions for making the FCZ more acceptable to the local communities by making different use and no-use zones within FCZs.
Dr. Suman Jumani, The Nature Conservancy, US, gave an virtual talk about community-based fish sanctuaries in India and their potentials for conservation. She gave examples of three different kinds of community fish reserves such as Temple Ponds – a more common form of fish community reserve present across India, Fish Sanctuary and Conservation Zones – Conservation based sanctuary models followed in North-East India and some parts of Karnataka, and informal set-ups around private lands which provide passive protection to Rivers. These sanctuaries hold great potential for the conservation of rare fish species in India, but are subject to myriad threats at local, regional and global scales. She highlighted the lack of scientific knowledge in the management and monitoring of these Community Fish Sanctuaries. Most of these sanctuaries are not recorded in any scientific manner and there is an urgent need for the documentation of all these sanctuaries as many of these are being destroyed without having been documented.
Dr. Nachiket Kelkar, Wildlife Conservation Trust, Mumbai, spoke about Inland Fishery Policies. The focus of the talk was whether a community-based fish conservation is possible when the fishery related policies emphasises on harvesting. He gave examples of how government policies have resulted in expansion of agriculture at the cost of inland fishery in India. Although all fishery policies emphasize on the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management, there is a clear absence of Fish conservation and biodiversity/ecosystem thinking in any of the policies. He emphasised on the need to change our approach from an aquaculture based to a sustainable fishing and conservation based. He also spoke about lack of scientific evidences while setting up harvesting rules and monitoring of fishing and a need to decolonise and re-orient our thinking related to fishery policies. Experimentation and adaptiveness are required along with inter-departmental coordination and collaboration to develop better Inland Fishery Policies in India.
Neethi Mahesh, Foundation for Rivers and Ecosystems, Bengaluru, spoke about the conservation of Mahseer through Sacred Groves and Sacred Rivers in Kodagu district of Karnataka. She showed how these sacred forests are being fragmented and emphasised on the need for restoration of these habitats for the conservation of Mahseer and other aquatic biota. She spoke about her riparian forest restoration project initiated in Kodagu. She also spoke about her efforts in developing an online platform – Our River, Our Life (https://www.ourriverourlife.com/home), which helps in monitoring and protection of our waterways through community participation.
Shailaja Deshpande, Jeevitnadi, Pune, spoke about Civic Engagement for the revival of Urban Rivers. Jeevitnadi has been working towards making the Urban Rivers solid wastes and toxin free. Ms. Deshpande stated that the lack of knowledge about River ecosystems, civic responsibility, and implementation of existing laws are the root causes for the pollution of Urban Rivers. Involving
root-level stakeholders and creating awareness among the stakeholders are key in achieving revival of Urban Rivers. Ms. Deshpande gave an overview of on-ground engagement programs conducted by her team. Her programs, specifically adopting River stretches, has helped in keeping the rivers clean and healthy and increased the sense of belonging among locals. Dr. Shashank Ogale, a renowned Mahseer breeder from Pune, spoke about the methods of breeding Mahseer and how
Mahseer breeding has helped in revival of populations across Indian Rivers. Fr. Paul Lelen Haokip, Christ University, presented about the influence the government policies have on Rivers and ecology in Northeast India. He especially spoke about that policies that favour growing of Palms on hill tops with intense use of chemicals which affects the rivers and people downstream.
The talks were followed by an open floor discussion where the opportunities and challenges in Community based fish conservation efforts across the country were discussed. Also, the larger impacts and threats to Rivers and Fish conservation – beyond the protected stretches, were discussed in this session. This session was moderated by Dr. Kelkar.
We started our discussion with community reserves in Northeast India and their status. Meghalaya is a pioneer state in adopting community-based fish conservation models in Northeast India.
However, in other North-Eastern states such a model is not followed. The only other place where this model practiced is in Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh. However, there is not much information is available about the actual management and status of community reserve from Arunachal Pradesh. The Fish Conservation Zone set up in Manipur under CEPF Project is the first such community reserve established in the state of Manipur. Even in Meghalaya, researchers said that the model has worked mainly in Garo Hills. In Khasi and Jayantia Hills, the fish community reserves have failed. Dr. Massar mentioned about the lack of monitoring of fish populations in Mahseer sanctuaries established in Garo Hills and showed a concern about a possible decline in other fish species in favour of Mahseer breeding in these reserves. She also said that, in the Mahseer Sanctuaries a large number of big size fish could be seen at one location which gives an impression of ‘over-population’ and she advocated a need for science based regulated harvesting strategies within these community reserves. She mentioned that in FCZ established at Laplang under the
previous CEPF Project, people are managing to catch fish outside FCZs and in future if there is a good recovery of fish within FCZ, regulated harvesting could be allowed in these FCZs.
Neethi Mahesh said that, although there are large congregations of fish within the Temple Fish Sanctuaries, during Monsoon, they migrate either upstream or downstream of the sanctuary. She referred to telemetry studies which suggest that large fish are habituated to deeper pools, and they rarely go outside sanctuaries, and it’s only the small size fish that go out and get harvested by people outside the sanctuaries. She recommended a need for systematic study of fish population and movement during monsoon inside and outside these community reserves for a better management of fish populations and the sanctuaries. She gave examples of her studies from Valnoor and Forbes Sagar fish sanctuaries where she found a decline in fish sizes outside the sanctuaries. Dr. Kelkar, suggested that within sanctuaries one may have to correct for the ‘provision’ lead allometry to the
natural growth allometry of fish in the wild areas. Participants suggested a need for comparative study of fish in community fish sanctuaries and inside protected wildlife areas.
Dr. Nachiket highlighted the concept of wild, cultured and domestic and how conservation and management grapples with these ideas regularly. He mentioned that Conservation translocation and breeding are given greater importance by the IUCN for many of the critically endangered species. This led to a discussion on ‘what is wild’ and what is not and how conservation should deal with these concepts. Dr. Ogale from his years of experiences on captive Mahseer breeding told that, the fish that were reared within lakes and reservoirs lose their natural instinct and agility and get caught easily by the anglers. Neethi provided anecdotal examples of how captive bred Tor khudree fish got washed away from Cauvery Sanctuary during the floods in 2019, as they were not adapted to the flooding regimes in their captive environment. The older fish stayed in the river, but new recruits
vanished during the heavy floods. Shailaja Deshpande raised an important question that most of our rivers are damned and whether it is possible to find and conserve a ‘wild’ habitat in our Rivers. By analogy most of our Rivers are like having wild fish in captive pools and that’s a great concern that we might be having in our rivers.
Shailaja Deshpande drew our attention to the major issue of River-Front Development in India. It is the largest infrastructure that is happening across all our Rivers. More than 108 Rivers are demarcated for River Front Development which involves clearing of Riverbeds and making large constructions and walls right from the riverbed, which will affect habitats for turtles, crocodiles, birds and vegetation and may drastically alter flood regime and river course in future. She suggested that establishing Community Reserves along Rivers, documenting their biodiversity, publicising may help in fighting such ill-constructed concepts in future in our Rivers.
Fr. Paul, brought forwarded the need for controlling the pollutants at the source in our Rivers. Neethi told about her efforts related to location specific waste management along Cauvery River. She told about training the Gram Panchayats about waste management with the help of volunteer organisations like ‘Hasiru Dala’ and getting vendors for collection and disposal of wastes from the villages. Ryan Satheesh cited his study on micro-invertabrates in 2nd and 3rd order streams, where he found more parasites and tolerant micro-invertebrates in disturbed streams compared to undisturbed streams which had more sensitive micro-invertebrate species. And he said that as we go down the stream order the number of parasites increase with increase in disturbance and river pollution. He pointed out that along with larger rivers, we need to focus at the origin – smaller streams which end
up joining the large water bodies.
Participants discussed about using Citizen Science to monitor and document water quality in our Rivers and streams. The existing water quality monitoring stations are inadequate in number to give reliable information on the health of the water. Developing user friendly apps which can be used by people to collect some qualitative and quantitative data can help in River health monitoring significantly. We discussed about the feasibility of installing telemetry-based water-level and quality monitoring sensors along the rivers. This will need large funds, and the researchers need to explore the crowd-funding options for this large-scale work. Dr. Haokip gave examples of the telemetry-based rain-gauge and water level recorders developed and installed as a part of CEPF project at FCZ sites in Manipur. Dr. Krishnaswamy mentioned about mobile apps that can be used to measure stream-flows from a platform and could be used by general public to monitor stream-flows. We also discussed about installation of floating waste-collecting devices at specific sites in major Rivers.
We further discussed about Climate Change and considering the River Rights as Legal Persons in future. Dr. Krishnaswamy mentioned about a short-lived Rights of River experiment that took place in Uttarakhand in India. He said that such a concept is unlikely to survive in India as Rights to Rivers would affect a lot of other activities such as power generation, infrastructure developments etc., and the experiment was shot down at the Supreme Court of India. He suggested that Rights of Rivers could be brought back only through some social and cultural movements at regional levels and not through a legal framework. Shailaja Deshpande shared her experiences with Rights of River movement in Pune, and how local people agreed with this concept. She also said how a River Front Development Programme in Pune was put on hold based on the Rights of Rivers concept. Neethi
spoke about rainfall monitoring feature that is planned on her citizen web platform – Our Rivers, Our Life and requested all the participants to engage with rainfall data collection in their working region. She also mentioned about the plans of digitising 100-year rainfall data from coffee and tea plantations to track climate change and its influence on rainfall patterns. Dr. Krishnaswamy spoke about setting up raingauges in government institutes and training the staff in collecting of rainfall data which could help in getting fine-scale data for the entire nation. Rajat Nayak, suggested on setting up a system to collate data that is already being collected at Krishi Vigyana Kendra and other agricultural colleges and universities across India. Neethi said that summer irrigation is contributing largely to change in monsoon patterns in the country. Dr. Krishnaswamy added that interlinking of Rivers is also going to change wind patterns by cooling different areas which will eventually affect rainfall patterns. He also gave examples of Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Western Ghats, where Evapotranspirations are influencing local rainfall patterns. He emphasised on the need for modelling the influence of climate warming on River temperature regime which affects flows, ground-water recharge, biodiversity and hydrological processes. Dr. Kelkar suggested about the availability of high-resolution satellite images and videos for monitoring of Rivers. Ryan suggested about monitoring fish distribution could provide information on the influence climate change on fish populations.
Finally, we discussed about how Community Based Conservation Models could be integrated as a part of state and national level water policies. Dr. Kelkar said that Inland Fishery Policies are a state subject. He stated that the policies are ever evolving, and it is always possible to include Community Reserves as a part of policies. He cautioned the policies in India are inert to experimentations, however, with persuasion some experimental framework could be brought into state policies. He referred to the Karnataka ‘Inland Fisheries Act, 2003’ which provides a provision for the ‘Declaration of Fish Sanctuary’ and Mahseer Sanctuaries in Meghalaya where community reserves have become a part of Government Policies. Shailaja Deshpande, shared her experiences of adding certain River Conservation clauses in the Government Rule (GR) which is followed strictly in some states could be a work-around than depending solely on Policies to include Community based conservation models. Rajat Nayak mentioned about the Biodiversity Act, 2002, where some of the community managed sites could be declared as Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS) and conserved.
The workshop was followed by a day of field trip to Bheemeshwari Mahseer Repository Facility, in cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and to the Forbes Sagar Fish Sanctuary in the Shivanasamudram Bluff area, Karnataka.