By Muralidharan Manoharakrishnan
“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider \ again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”- Carl Sagan
I remember reading Carl Sagan’s famous lines about the ‘pale blue dot’, a phrase he coined after seeing an image of Earth captured by the Voyager spacecraft in the early 1990s. It struck me how, in that vast expanse of space, our planet’s most distinctive feature was the waters that cover it. It’s ironic, really. A planet so dominated by oceans is called ‘Earth’, yet these waters remain some of the least explored parts of our world.
The oceans and coasts are home to a stunning variety of life. From the tiniest plankton, which produce 50 to 80 per cent of the world’s oxygen, to entire ecosystems – ranging from estuaries, mangroves, and rocky shores to seagrasses, coral reefs, and the open seas – there's so much life teeming beneath the surface. I’ve often thought about how, throughout history, humans have relied on the oceans to connect with each other, build civilisations, and develop coastal towns and cities.
A typical view out in the open seas, with nothing but a vast blue expanse until the horizon, truly provides perspective on the sheer size of the oceans. Photo: Nikhil John.
India’s shores, much like those of the rest of the world, have been inhabited for millennia. With over 4.5 million people living along its 7,500 km. coastline, the country is home to bustling cities, towns, and villages, each with its own unique relationship with the sea. The fisheries and marine wildlife found here are incredibly diverse. Major ports such as Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata have historically served as vital economic centres, connecting India to the rest of the world. It’s remarkable how much of our history and future is tied to the waters that surround us.
This overlap of regions being used by humans and wild species makes the oceans and coasts an interesting yet challenging space to conserve wildlife and its habitat. Most terrestrial 'wild’ spaces are located in sparsely populated regions of the country, where resource extraction is minimal and boundaries are more clearly visible. In contrast, coastal and marine areas represent the opposite. For example, the very act of fishing, which is an acceptable practice across human societies, could be seen as a form of hunting when seen under the lens of traditional wildlife conservation. This frequently comes out in an interesting form of conflict, particularly through bycatch – where some protected species are accidentally caught in different fishing gear during regular fishing operations while others are increasingly being targeted.
Prior to the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, all marine species, including sea turtles, came under the premise of fisheries, and were considered fair catch. There are records of egg harvests through a licenced practice called ‘anda kara’ during the Kanika dynasty, followed by the registered transport of live sea turtles as cargo on trains from Puri to the markets of Kolkata for consumption. Following this, many more marine species received conservation attention by being brought under the Act, starting with the whale shark as the first protected ‘fish’. This was followed by other shark species, marine mammals (all whales and dolphins), corals, sea cucumbers, seahorses, and many shells. The latest edition of the Act includes more species of sharks, rays and charismatic and endangered marine fish, such as the bump head parrotfish.
The main challenge with the management of protecting these species is that they occur in close proximity to other legally and commercially harvested fish species. Apart from this, many of these species aren’t limited to small regions and are highly migratory, with their breeding coinciding with the peaks of the fishing season. Accessing marine habitats presents a unique set of challenges. It demands not only reliable, seaworthy vessels capable of withstanding the rigours of ocean travel but also requires individuals to possess specialised training and navigational skills. Unfortunately, wildlife managers have noted a lack of training in these competencies, which hampers effective exploration and conservation efforts in marine environments.
A common point of concern raised by coastal communities is the lack of discussion with the fishers before declaring the capture of these species as illegal and/or the availability of implementable alternatives or technologies to avoid their capture. The development of techniques to avoid the accidental capture of protected species have ranged from the modification of nets such as Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in trawl nets; placing visual deterrents such as silhouettes and flashing LEDs in gillnets; and acoustic pingers that emit high frequency sounds to allow marine mammals to avoid regions where fishing occurs. However, none of these are widely implemented by fishers so far.
Coastal community youth have, in recent years, found meaningful employment engaging in sea turtle conservation with NGOs as well as Forest Departments. Photo: Muralidharan. M.
This overlap in shared spaces is also temporal, occurring from November to April across the Indian coast, which is both the peak fishing season and the height of the holiday season along the coast in states such as Goa. This is most prominently observed in the case of the olive ridley sea turtle, the most ubiquitous species of sea turtle along the Indian coast, which comes to breed and nest on our shores during the same period before migrating into deeper offshore waters of the Bay of Bengal. During this time, newspapers and news often highlight the mortalities that occur with alarming headlines. However, it's important to note that nesting numbers of the same species have increased at sites across much of the Indian coast and globally. This is owing to the decline in targeted hunting and improved conservation measures, including hatcheries managed by NGOs and state governments. The narrative frequently casts fishers in a negative light when turtles accidentally get caught in their nets. It suggests seemingly simple solutions, such as stricter enforcement of laws and increased patrols at sea, akin to the efforts made in terrestrial Protected Areas. However, these suggestions overlook the immense and complex nature of the oceans, which are far beyond what can be easily monitored or controlled.
The ongoing conflict surrounding the olive ridley turtles in the state of Odisha is far from a new issue. Odisha is renowned for one of the world’s largest nesting grounds for these remarkable sea turtles. Every year, lakhs of olive ridley turtles gather along its sandy shores to lay their eggs. Unfortunately, alongside this incredible natural spectacle, the turtles also face significant threats, including unintentional mortalities caused by human activities. The discussions between conservationists and fishers have been ongoing for more than two decades at this point and have yet to reach a commonly accepted consensus. The concerns brought up by fishers usually begin by pushing the blame onto a different type of fishing gear or fishers from the neighbouring states entering illegally. From trawl nets to large gill nets to purse/ring seines to bottom set trammel nets, with each net being designed for catching different fish species in different regions and different seasons, there is often a rapid decision to ban a practice without detailed consultations. Likewise, the ongoing issue of TEDs, stemming from US sanctions on the import ban of wild-caught shrimp, has created significant concerns about losing a high-value market on account of the failure to use TEDs. The concern with TEDs has primarily to do with the loss of catch that occurs on its installation. While scientists claim this loss to be around three to 10 per cent, fishers claim it is closer to 20 to 30 per cent.
An olive ridley dives into the waters to forage for shrimp and fish, for which humans also share a proclivity. Photo: Rajarshi Banerji/Sanctuary Photolibrary.
It is not commonly known that our once-thriving nearshore fisheries have hit major declines in the last two decades on account of the increase in mechanised fisheries taking over the spaces of artisanal fishers. Despite state-legislated Marine Fisheries Regulation Acts in place across all states, which also demarcates where different types of vessels and gears can be operated, implementing these regulations presents challenges. The decline in fish stocks now means that even a three per cent loss in catch from reducing the bycatch of turtles or marine mammals can affect the overall profits of a fishing vessel and the livelihoods that depend on it. This loss of livelihood has already been observed to have pushed community youth away from their traditional practices, driving them toward other forms of labour and causing their migration away from their native villages. As a result, there is a growing sense of detachment among them and a lack of ownership of local spaces.
With all these challenges combined over a shared space, the solutions for this require a different form of dialogue and action. Fishers, conservationists, scientists, managers and legislators have to work together on an equal playing field without pitting one against the other. It is quite clear that the intentional capture of most of these species is not desired by fishers and their primary concern lies in getting a fair compensation or markets that can make up for their losses. If a solution can be found that gives fishers a sense of ownership and responsibility for the protection of species, that could be a winning solution. This would require an overhaul of how marine conservation has been approached in India. A multi-disciplinary approach that can operate through conserving spaces and species while enhancing local livelihoods can be thought of. With the call for protecting a large portion of seas to match our global conservation targets, this is the right time for us to come up with new and innovative solutions.
Muralidharan M. is the Lead for Marine Species at WWF-India, working towards the sustainable conservation of marine species and their habitats.