Rebuilding an ecosystem

The Chennai-based MSSRF launches a project to promote sustainable alternative livelihood systems using local resources for the benefit of people living off the Gulf of Mannar coast.

in Thoothukudi

"ENVIRONMENTAL concerns and economic development go hand in hand. They are two sides of the same coin," said the world-renowned farm scientist, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, in early February. He was inaugurating, as part of the Gulf of Mannar project, the country's first community-managed artificial coral reef project to stimulate the natural system that has degraded over the years, in order to bring thousands of fishermen families out of poverty and misery.

Because of the incredible number and variety of the animal and plant life they support, coral reefs are also called the rainforests of the oceans. According to Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, Professor of Geosciences, Princeton University, coral reefs are the richest of ocean ecosystems, and if they are destroyed or damaged, much of the biological diversity simply gets lost. This is what has happened along the shoreline of the Gulf of Mannar, a repository of over 3,600 species of plants and animals and the first biosphere reserve in the South-East Asian region. The gulf, which supports the livelihood systems of over 1.8 lakh fishing families in the 96 hamlets between Rameswaram and Thoothukudi, accounts for an annual fish catch (which includes prawn, crab and lobster) of over one lakh tonnes, valued at Rs.80 crores.

But over the last few years, the catch has declined sharply owing to the exploitation and degradation of critical ecosystems such as coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangrove wetlands that breed and feed the fish. As a result, the fishing families have been caught in a vicious cycle: a degraded ecosystem, fall in fish catch and hence income levels, exploitation of resources (such as the cutting and removal of coral reefs by private companies), and further degradation of the ecosystem.

According to Bairavan, who has been fishing in this area for the last three decades, "the fish catch has declined sharply in the last few years and the income is hardly a fourth of what we earned a decade ago". With rise in prices, he says, this means a substantial fall in the standard of living, and incomes are barely enough to make ends meet.

Rakayi, a fisherwoman, is certain that the sharp fall in the fish catch is owing to the shrinking of the coral reefs thanks to the illegal mining by private companies. The companies involved argue that they remove only dead coral. But Yesudasan, a fisherman, says: "This is not true. Almost 10-15 tonnes of reef is cut and taken away every month by private companies." The limestone in the reef is used as raw material for cement production. Admitting that he is one of those employed by the companies to break and take out reefs from the sea, Yesudasan says that fishermen like him have no choice, as they can no longer depend on just the fish catch to make ends meet.

Says Vellaipatti village leader Sabari Anandhan: "The extent of the illegal mining is alarming. If this continues, we shall all be dead and gone."

To break this web, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), with support from the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has launched a project that will promote sustainable alternative livelihood systems using local resources for the benefit of the people living in the islands off the Gulf of Mannar. The project has two components: one to strengthen self-help groups, and the other to promote alternative livelihood security systems for the impoverished fishermen. The first component, estimated to cost Rs.2.8 crores, will be implemented by the Madurai-based DHAN Foundation, which has over two decades of experience in organising micro-credit and self-help groups. The second component, which will comprise five activities - the recently launched artificial coral reef unit, a fish pickle unit, an agar plant, a pearl culture venture and village information centres - in six villages (Kunjarvalasai, Mundhalmunai, Vellapatti, Therespuram, Pamban and Thangachimadam), is under the care of the MSSRF. While the local communities will implement the projects, the MSSRF will act as a facilitator providing technical, managerial and marketing assistance. Says MSSRF project director Dr. V. Selvam: "All the projects are comprehensive - from concept development to marketing - as the idea is to make each activity economically sound and viable so that they are sustainable."

To realise the vision of the Blue Revolution - "fish for all and fish forever" - production, processing and marketing need to be interlinked, says Dr. Swaminathan. And this is what the MSSRF did on February 2, coinciding with the World Wetlands Day. While production of fish is to be increased by the artificial coral reef project in Therespuram, processing is to be done by setting aside a part of the fish catch for the fish pickle unit in Vellapatti, and marketing is to be done by the Chennai-based Farm Suzanne, a frozen food marketing company. PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bangalore, is helping in training the fishermen families to manage their enterprises and to market their produce.

THE showpiece of the MSSRF's Gulf of Mannar project is the artificial reef programme. In order to revive the natural systems, artificial coral reefs are made using specifically designed concrete modules, each weighing over one and a half tonnes, and coated with anti-corrosive material. Four modules - for grouper fish (kalava), lobsters, reef fish and seahorses - are being tried. A total of 110 such concrete structures are deployed in a 1 sq km area, 14 km from Therespuram village.

According to Dr. Selvam, planktons and bacteria would form on the concrete structures within a month. These, with a lifespan of only a day, decay after a few days. Some chemicals would be released upon their decay, which would attract marine life. Plants and polyps would begin to grow on them and several marine animals would lay eggs and also find shelter in these "reefs". This way, the artificial coral reefs would feed and breed marine life and over time tend to become natural.

Dr. Swaminathan says that though normally it would take five years for such regeneration, in warmer tropical waters, as off Thoothukudi, polyps grow rapidly and regeneration should be possible in three years.

The artificial reefs are protected by the people of the fishing community of Therespuram, who are members of the Artificial Reef Society, formed specifically for the project. They will monitor the reefs to make sure that trawlers and fishing nets do not get caught in these structures and impede the reefs from becoming natural. According to Dr. Selvam, trawlers' associations have promised to cooperate and stay clear of the artificial reef zone by using the Global Positioning System. The fishermen have agreed to use the hook-and-tackle method of fishing in this zone so as not to disturb the reefs. The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) is monitoring the trawlers.

The project, the first large-scale Indian experiment of a community-managed artificial coral reef system, is to help raise the fish catch by three to five tonnes and the lobster catch by 400 kg in the 1 sq km area. The focus is on increasing group fish population. Group fish sells at Rs.120-160 a kg and has good export potential.

The fish-pickling unit, called the Annai Theresa Fish Pickle Unit, started by the women of the fishing community in Vellapatti village in Thoothukudi district, is run by 11 women from the Fish Pickle Society. They are trained to make pickles of the highest industry standards and produce 20 kg of prawn pickle every day. According to Marie Rodrigue, head of Farm Suzanne, the pickles, already on the shelves of Chennai stores, would soon be available elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, and also in Karnataka and Kerala.

The community-owned agar plant was made operational a few months ago in Kunjarvalasai village in Ramanathapuram district. An essential ingredient in a number of food preparations, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries, agar is a colloidal substance extracted from marine red seaweed, which is found in abundance in the Gulf of Mannar biosphere. To help those collecting the seaweed in the area earn additional income, the MSSRF set up a model 3.6-tonne agar plant on a one-acre plot. The facilities provided by the MSSRF include a boiler, an agitator, a digester and a freezing plant. An agar society has been formed and over 30 seaweed collectors supply the raw materials to the plant, which started production in January. Apart from providing direct employment, the agar plant generates jobs in auxiliary activities such as vermi-composting of seaweed residue. The technology and training for this activity is given by the CMFRI.

Pearls are natural gems produced by oysters. Artificial pearl culture is done by introducing a small round bead in the oysters. These nucleated pearl oysters are then grown in the sea where they produce pearls in 10 months. The MSSRF, along with the CMFRI, which has perfected this technology, recently set up a community-based pearl culture unit in Mundhalmunai village in Ramanathapuram district. The arrangement is that the CMFRI, which has the facility and the expertise, will rear pearl oysters, insert nuclei in them and sell them to the fishing families, which in turn will grow the nucleated oysters in sea farms, then harvest and sell them. The families that are part of this programme grow over one lakh nucleated pearl oysters in the farms near Krusadai village. At least 15,000 pearls can be produced from this in 8-10 months. The estimated net profit is Rs. 3.75 lakhs.

The MSSRF has set up village information centres to help fishing families access necessary information, at Pamban and Thangachimadam in Ramanathapuram district and Therespuram and Vallapatti in Thoothukudi district. The hub, at the site office, is connected to the village centres by a hybrid of the wireless and telephone communication systems. Content and information updating to suit local needs - government programmes in the districts, market intelligence, weather bulletin, information on medical services, transport facilities available in the towns, contact numbers of government offices, and so on - is the crux of the programme.

The Tamil Nadu government recently announced a Rs.140-crore, seven-year programme along with the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the UNDP, to protect and preserve the marine-rich Gulf of Mannar. The priority of the project, according to project director V.K. Melkani, is to provide livelihood security to the local people and to conserve the area involving them in the management of the coastal ecosystem. The GEF and the UNDP will contribute Rs.40 crores and the Union and State governments Rs.100 crores.

For social projects to be successful, it is imperative to involve the local community and a broad coalition of players. Realising this, the MSSRF has involved, apart from the local community and non-governmental organisations, the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), the CMFRI, the Forest and Fisheries Departments, and the private sector (Farm Suzanne and PricewaterhouseCoopers). This, in some sense, is also the prime reason for the success of the MSSRF projects. As Anthony from Mandapam, who has benefited from the MSSRF project, says: "There is no doubt that the MSSRF projects will be a success. They do not project themselves but involve a number of groups of people - from the government, from private organisations and locals - to make sure that the projects are not only viable but also sustainable." But what needs to be remembered here is that state support is vital if the projects are to make an impact on a large scale.