The Central Marine Fisheries Research
Institute (CMFRI), the largest fisheries research body in the country, has submitted the Country Status Report about the impact of climate change on coastal fisheries and aquaculture sector in India.
CMFRI, functioning under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, presented the report in a meeting between SAARC Agriculture Centre and representatives from SAARC nations during a video conference convened by the SAC.
The representatives in the fisheries sector of all SAARC nations, except Sri Lanka, attended the video conference held last week, a CMFRI release said here.
The video conference was part of the Dhaka headquartered SAC's initiative to assess the impact of climate change in agricultural sectors of SAARC member countries and come up with resilient strategies.
A three-member team,headed by CMFRI Director A Gopalakrishnan, represented India in the conference.
The team presented the report which included details of issues and challenges being developed owing to climate change in the coastal fisheries and aquaculture sector in India.
P U Zacharia, Project Coordinator of National Innovations on Climate Resilient Aquaculture and Grinson George, Senior Scientist were other members of the CMFRI team who prepared the CSR, which exposed disruptions being occurred due to the climate change in areas such as marine ecosystem, fish stock, harvesting sector, aquaculture, market and trade etc, it said.
The present condition of fishing communities was also included in the report, the report said.
During the conference through Skype, members representing fisheries and aquaculture sector of SAARC member countries reviewed remedial steps to be taken to mitigate the impact of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture, and finalised a set of recommendations to be followed by member countries in future.
In the recommendations,the meeting prioritised developing collaborative and comprehensive efforts to address climate vulnerabilities and commissioning of SAARC level task force to formulate strategies to mitigate climate change impacts.
Conduct of awareness programmes on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and expansion of open sea cage farming and pen culture in coastal water bodies were also listed as the major recommendations.
Other noteworthy recommendations finalised include
introduction of saline temperature tolerant and fast-growing fish species for coastal aquaculture; establishment of fish sanctuary for improvement of natural stocks and setting up common gene bank for vulnerable species, the release said.
Development of alternate energy and fuel sources for inland and marine capture fisheries; utilisation of e-commerce ventures and information communication technology for social and livelihood security of fishers and fish farmers;framing of wetland conservation policies to manage coastal ecosystem and community based coastal fisheries and aquaculture management are the other key recommendations.
The conference also recommended upgradation and modernisation of the fishing industry related infrastructure and setting standards for fishing practises; training and exchange programmes supporting member countries including visits, project support and resource sharing; development of ecologically sensitive habitats, mangroves, corals and wetlands and farming of potential carbon sequestering species such as seaweeds and integrating with multi trophic aquaculture (IMTA).
