Report on occurrence of Yellow Sea Snake Hydrophis spiralis off Kerala coast

Sea snakes play an important role in the marine food web and studies on their diversity and distribution are very limited in India. Globally, 70 species of sea snakes have been reported under the family Elapidae which is divided into two subfamilies (i) Laticaudinae and (ii) Hydrophiinae. Sea snakes belonging to the subfamily Hydrophiinae are considered as ‘true sea snakes’ with 62 species which are viviparous (give birth to live young at sea). Laticaudinae sea snakes called the ‘sea kraits’ have 8 species and are oviparous. They come to the land for mating and to lay eggs

Marine mammal strandings along the Indian coast mapped

The stranding locations of marine mammals namely blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni), fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) and minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) along the Indian coast were mapped (Fig. 1) using passive method. The data was collected for the period 1874 to 2016

Geospatial Technology: An Effective tool for marine mammal conservation

Geospatial Technology: An Effective tool for marine mammal conservatio

Report on the deep sea swarming crab

Deep sea swarming crab Charybdis (Goniohellenus) smithii MacLeay, is found in the depth range between 60 to 356 m in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and believed to play a significant role in the marine food web. Observations from a trawl survey aboard F V Silver Pompano at 40 m depth that was made on 17th October, 2017 is reported. The trawl was operated in the afternoon for one hour, from 09° 57’55" to 10° 00’ 03" North and 75° 55’ 37" to 75° 53’ 50" East coordinates at a speed of 3.5 knots/hour

Do fishes consume plastics? If so, are they always dangerous?

Plastics have tremendous advantages and utility in the present world but its indiscriminate discard creates a pathway to water bodies and eventually forming a threat to aquatic organisms. The large plastics (macro plastics) can degrade and become smaller meso or micro plastics which can be ingested by fishes and invertebrates. Low density plastics (eg. Poly propylene or polyethylene) are dominant in the top layers for a certain period of their entry, may suffer biofouling causing it to sink gradually. High density plastics (PVC, Polyester and polyamides) usually sink to the bottom. Macro, Meso and Micro polymers selected for the study were polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chlorid

Assessment of diversity and quantity of macro-plastics and litter spread in the Vembanad Lake

Anthropogenic impacts on sustainability of coastal ecosystems have always been a matter of concern for those who depend on these habitats for their livelihood. A slow and silent killer of the aquatic habitats is the nondegradable litter or debris which enters these water bodies due to improper treatment of solid waste on land. These either settle in the nearby areas or drift and finally settle in distant places. Ultimately most of the untreated and carelessly dumped solid wastes end up in the coastal waters or the seas. The Vembanad Lake (VL) in Kerala spread across three districts is one of the largest wetlands of the country. A survey was conducted to understand the spread of litter in the upstream and downstream areas of this water body. Five stations (ST) were fixed; Kumarakom (ST-1), Vaikom (ST-2), Nettoor (ST-3), Thevara (ST-4) and Cochin backwaters (ST-5) of which the first two were upstream, followed by middle stream (ST 3,4) and downstream (ST-5). It was observed that 30% of the surveyed area at Kumarakam (ST-1) and 40% of Nettor zones were without any submerged debris. The average quantity of submerged debris at ST - 1, ST -2, ST -3 and ST -4 were 0.5, 1.5, 0.6, and 0.5 kg.m'2 while in Cochin backwaters in the area adjacent to marine drive, the submerged litter was estimated as 111 kg.m'2, which is ,100 times greater than in the upstream areas. While carry bags were the dominant litter in the upstream stations, ghost nets (40.6 kg.m'2), nylon ropes (15.6 kg.m'2) cables and metal cans (11.5 kg.m'2) formed the major litter components in Cochin backwaters. The study brought out the urgent need to clean the Cochin backwaters to restore the ecosystem functioning. The paper presents the types of litter and its density in different areas of VL and suggests the remedial measures to prevent further degradation

Eco-friendly bags - an alternative to plastic carry bags

Fishery Environment and Management Division of CMFRI is always focussing on environment concern issues apart from Research on Marine Environment .One of the major threats the ecosystem faces in the present world is the impact due to non-degradable wastes especially plastics. Enumerable numbers of Plastics in the form of carry bags enter in to our houses and it has become an inevitable item in the daily life. But the improper waste disposal due to poor waste management facilities available in our society causes the accumulation of these non-degradable plastic materials on the road sides and open grounds there by polluting the ecosystem

Sediment blue carbon stock of Avicennia officinalis in Vembanad Lake ecosystem, Kerala, India

Stock assessment of the blue carbon pool of selected patches of mangrove sediment in the Vembanad Lake was done using the standard protocols on a per ha basis and multiplied with the estimated area to derive the blue carbon stock of the particular fragmented mangrove stands of the species Avicennia officinalis (Indian Mangrove), twice (in the post and pre-monsoon) during October 2017-March 2018. The treatments included ‘aged’, ‘recent’, ‘healthy’ and ‘degraded’ mangroves of the selected species and ‘control’ without mangroves. The overall mean carbon stock in the A. officinalis sediments in selected locations of the Vembanad Lake area was 136.09 Mg C/ha (Mg=mega gram=1 tonne). This value is far low compared to the mean global soil organic carbon stock in the mangrove ecosystem (386 Mg C/ha). This finding suggests ample opportunity for more carbon sequestration in the selected mangrove ecosystems in Vembanad Lake, toward climate change mitigation measures. The treatments differed significantly in the cumulative stock of blue carbon and layer-wise blue carbon density in sediment (p<0.05), the highest seen in ‘healthy’ mangroves in both seasons. The overall range of layer-wise blue carbon density in sediment was found to be 0.003 to 0.56 Mg/m3. Spatial maps prepared for layer-wise blue carbon density in the sediment revealed its depth-wise increase. Layer wise blue carbon stock in sediment had a significant correlation with total organic carbon and organic matter (p<0.01) and with the C/N ratio of the sediment (p < 0.05). Based on the results, this study suggests total organic carbon and the C/N ratio of sediment as possible predictive indicators of sediment blue carbon

Rapid Assessment of marine debris in the coastal waters of Kerala

Marine debris are any manmade materials released into marine ecosystem as a result of various human activities and main sources include maritime and fishing activities, riverine inputs, storm water and urban run-off, tourism and beach activities, industrial and domestic sources and oil rigs. The debris also causes problems to fishermen as they get caught in their gear and causes damages to it and also affects their work efficienc

Waste mangement- issues and solutions for a coastal village along Kerala, southwest coast of India

In the present world, plastics play an integral role in human life. Its production crosses 150 million tonnes per year globally and India contributes to more than 8 million tonnes, in terms of consumption. Plastic is cost effective, durable and holds a broad range of application, which turned it to a basic need for the human society. On the other side, 70 % of the consumption is converted as waste and when the infrastructure of the waste management system do not match with the generation rate, it becomes a menace to the society. One of the major concerns of fishermen has been the depleting fishery resources and degrading environment. With an aim to understand the magnitude of marine litter in coastal waters and the way it affects traditional small scale fishers the present study was undertaken. The study area is Mulavukad village Panchayat (latitude 10°02’98.21’’ and longitude 76°25’53.26’’) which is a long narrow stretch of land located in the Ernakulum district of Kerala state, India with an area of 19.27 sq km. The island is surrounded by Periyar river on the North east and Vembanad Lake on the South west. The major lively hood of the people is fishing and fishery related activities