Indian scientist V M Sathish Kumar's strategy to save sea cucumbers revolves around sustainable fishing, rather than a blanket ban on sea cucumber fishing. His strategy has won him the Man and Biosphere UNESCO Young Scientist Award, writes Hema Vijay
These incongruous looking sea creatures, known commonly as the sea cucumbers and scientifically as holothurians, are among the country's notified endangered species and face the prospect of going extinct, because of illegal fishing and exports to the Chinese and other markets.
But in a few months from now, they might get a chance at continued survival, if Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) scientist V M Sathish Kumar's strategy works. In fact, the strategy he has developed for sea cucumber revival, has won him the Man and Biosphere (MAB) UNESCO Young Scientist Award, along with a sum of 5,000 US dollars to execute the strategy. This is the first time that an Indian scientist has won this prestigious award.
V M Sathish Kumar hails from Kulamavu, a small village in the Idukki district of Kerala. After completing his doctoral degree in conservational sciences from the University of Birmingham, he is currently working on molecular genetics and population genetics on selected faunal groups.
Commercially threatened
Though it was banned by the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (amended in 2001), sea cucumber fishing has been going on in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere, the 160-km-long inlet of the Indian Ocean between South-eastern India and Western Sri Lanka, and in the Andaman Nicobar regions. This fishing is undertaken in full force after the south-west monsoon blows over - around the end of September.
Skin-diving fishermen dive down to a depth of up to 12m into the sea to collect the sea cucumbers, while others fish using use trawlers. So intense is the fishing that sea cucumber stocks are usually depleted by December-January. In fact, the latest study conducted by Marine Biology Regional Centre, ZSI, that was submitted to the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Trust showed patchiness in distribution. If something is not done, further depletion of stocks and eventual extinction is inevitable.
A winning proposal
What makes Sathish Kumar's strategy a feasible one is that his solution to the challenge hovers around sustainable fishing, rather than a blanket ban on sea cucumber fishing. The fact is, there is always going to be pressure from the local fishermen community in fishing for these creatures. He further points out that the stocks of sea cucumbers left over after the fishing season may or may not aide replenishment of stocks. And since there is no official account of the sea cucumbers harvested, there is a need to regularise this fishing activity.
The conservation of the sea cucumbers and the regularisation of fishing should be based on sound scientific data such as stock density and population structure as priory data sets, Sathish Kumar suggests. Sathish Kumar has proposed that firstly, the seasonal fluxes in population structure of commercially viable sea cucumber species in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve (GMBR) be identified, and secondly that the effect of harvesting pressures on the stock sizes and population structure be assessed. Once this is done, a sustainable harvesting strategy that includes size restrictions in harvest, fixing of a time-span on the harvest, and also checks on the harvest of high value species can be developed. This would bring in regularised sea cucumber fishing without the risk of the species going extinct.
As per this award winning proposal, the study area will be divided into four zones based on island groups such as Mandapam, Kilakarai, Vembar, and Tuticorin, and the zones will be divided further based on habitat characteristics. Every 2km2 stretch would have a sampling point to cover all the sea cucumber habitats and common fishing sites. The surveys are to be conducted with rapid marine assessment techniques.
Sathish Kumar suggested that two divers be employed at each site with a 100m tape laid over the habitat substrate. One of the divers is to swim along either side of the transect and record habitat structure and resources up to a distance of 1m on either side of the transect line. The second diver would make the biometric measurements of the sea cucumbers. Effectively, the total area covered by the two divers will be 200 m2.
A total of four surveys are to be carried out in a year: one during the beginning of the fishing season, one during the fishing season, one at the end of fishing season and one during the non-fishing season. Thus, a comprehensive data on sea cucumber biomass, population structure and species diversity will be obtained, based on which a regulatory framework for sustainable fishing of sea cucumbers can be set in place.
These incongruous looking sea creatures, known commonly as the sea cucumbers and scientifically as holothurians, are among the country's notified endangered species and face the prospect of going extinct, because of illegal fishing and exports to the Chinese and other markets.
But in a few months from now, they might get a chance at continued survival, if Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) scientist V M Sathish Kumar's strategy works. In fact, the strategy he has developed for sea cucumber revival, has won him the Man and Biosphere (MAB) UNESCO Young Scientist Award, along with a sum of 5,000 US dollars to execute the strategy. This is the first time that an Indian scientist has won this prestigious award.
V M Sathish Kumar hails from Kulamavu, a small village in the Idukki district of Kerala. After completing his doctoral degree in conservational sciences from the University of Birmingham, he is currently working on molecular genetics and population genetics on selected faunal groups.
Commercially threatened
Though it was banned by the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (amended in 2001), sea cucumber fishing has been going on in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere, the 160-km-long inlet of the Indian Ocean between South-eastern India and Western Sri Lanka, and in the Andaman Nicobar regions. This fishing is undertaken in full force after the south-west monsoon blows over - around the end of September.
Skin-diving fishermen dive down to a depth of up to 12m into the sea to collect the sea cucumbers, while others fish using use trawlers. So intense is the fishing that sea cucumber stocks are usually depleted by December-January. In fact, the latest study conducted by Marine Biology Regional Centre, ZSI, that was submitted to the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Trust showed patchiness in distribution. If something is not done, further depletion of stocks and eventual extinction is inevitable.
A winning proposal
What makes Sathish Kumar's strategy a feasible one is that his solution to the challenge hovers around sustainable fishing, rather than a blanket ban on sea cucumber fishing. The fact is, there is always going to be pressure from the local fishermen community in fishing for these creatures. He further points out that the stocks of sea cucumbers left over after the fishing season may or may not aide replenishment of stocks. And since there is no official account of the sea cucumbers harvested, there is a need to regularise this fishing activity.
The conservation of the sea cucumbers and the regularisation of fishing should be based on sound scientific data such as stock density and population structure as priory data sets, Sathish Kumar suggests. Sathish Kumar has proposed that firstly, the seasonal fluxes in population structure of commercially viable sea cucumber species in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve (GMBR) be identified, and secondly that the effect of harvesting pressures on the stock sizes and population structure be assessed. Once this is done, a sustainable harvesting strategy that includes size restrictions in harvest, fixing of a time-span on the harvest, and also checks on the harvest of high value species can be developed. This would bring in regularised sea cucumber fishing without the risk of the species going extinct.
As per this award winning proposal, the study area will be divided into four zones based on island groups such as Mandapam, Kilakarai, Vembar, and Tuticorin, and the zones will be divided further based on habitat characteristics. Every 2km2 stretch would have a sampling point to cover all the sea cucumber habitats and common fishing sites. The surveys are to be conducted with rapid marine assessment techniques.
Sathish Kumar suggested that two divers be employed at each site with a 100m tape laid over the habitat substrate. One of the divers is to swim along either side of the transect and record habitat structure and resources up to a distance of 1m on either side of the transect line. The second diver would make the biometric measurements of the sea cucumbers. Effectively, the total area covered by the two divers will be 200 m2.
A total of four surveys are to be carried out in a year: one during the beginning of the fishing season, one during the fishing season, one at the end of fishing season and one during the non-fishing season. Thus, a comprehensive data on sea cucumber biomass, population structure and species diversity will be obtained, based on which a regulatory framework for sustainable fishing of sea cucumbers can be set in place.