The shorelines of Vembanad Lake these days witness something far more fishy under the cover of darkness than mere littering. When the lights are off, many rummage its muddy bottom for hours on end, heaving baskets of little black clams onto country boats.
Taking a serious note of the practice, which has put the black clam stocks in the waterbody in jeopardy, the Fisheries department has intensified its watch over the black clam sector with emergency raids. Since April this year, the authorities have foiled at least seven instances of illegal black clam harvesting and issued fines to the parties involved.
“A fine of ₹10,000 has been imposed on six to seven parties under the Kerala Inland Fisheries and Aqua Culture Act, 2010, while notices have been issued to three more parties. The problem is particularly rampant in the northern side of the Thannermukkam bund where the salinity content is relatively higher,” explained Benny Williams, Deputy Director of Fisheries, Kottayam.
To keep the activity under check, patrolling has been intensified along the lake, its inlets and canals, while plans are also afoot to step up monitoring during night hours with the support of local fishermen.
As per the estimates, about 8,000 people across the Vembanad lake basin are directly dependent on the black clam sector, while the average annual production of clams from the lake stands around 32,000 tonnes. The black clams contribute about 70% of the fishery wealth in the brackish water system.
Black market units
The proliferation of black market harvesting units, which are selling both clam meat and shells at a much lesser price without meeting the royalty norms, has also left the cooperative societies in the clam sector and thousands of its members a distressed lot. They also accuse the illegal harvesters of engaging in predatory harvest, leading to eventual depletion of the key resource.
“Widespread harvesting of Mallikalla — juvenile clams under the size of 20 mm — is being reported from locations such as Murinjapuzha, Chemmanakari and Kattikunnu. Unlike in the southern parts of the lake, there are no societies to regulate clam-harvesting in these locations,” said Vinoop Chellappan, Secretary of the Vechoor Lime shell Cooperative Society.
While the meat extracted is sold locally, the shells are being transported primarily to Namakkal in Tamil Nadu as poultry feed.
