Fish count reveals alarming facts

ALAPPUZHA: The third annual fish count in the Vembanad lake, conducted by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), has revealed a fall in population of various species, apart from the alarming sight of hundreds of fish trapped to death in plastic bags dumped in the lake.

The count, according to Latha Bhaskar of ATREE, found 52 species of fin fish and 14 species of crustaceans and molluscs including shrimp.

This, she said, was a marked variation from last years census of 62 species of fish and 14 species of the latter. The students and nature lovers engaged in the day-long fish count were shocked at the sight of several hundreds of fish trapped to death in plastic bags, diapers and tampons that lay on the lake-bed after being dumped into the water especially in the Kainakary and Pallathuruthy regions