Several varieties of mangroves, spread over vast tracts of land, have been cut down in Kannur in the recent years to facilitate Kaipad and shrimp farming.
All through, 58-year-old Parayil Rajan, a resident of Thavam, near Pazhayangadi, has been fighting a lone battle against the trend. Besides creating awareness among the people, he is on a mission to cultivate mangroves, especially the varieties that have dwindled due to deforestation, in his nursery on the premises of his house.
Rajan, a fisherman, has been planting mangroves right from his childhood, and their massive destruction of late has been disheartening to him. Mangrove varieties such as Ezhuthanikandal, Kuttikandal, Pookkandal, Chullikandal, Machinthol, Nakshathrakandal, Vallikandal, and Uppukaravu are slowly disappearing from Madayi and Pazhayangadi areas. Mangroves are being cleared from private land for shrimp and Kaipad farming, for which huge funds are made available by various agencies, he said.
Impact on fauna
“People have little concern for mangroves, which they now see as a hindrance to profit-making. Mangroves create a fertile ecosystem for fish to breed and their axing has brought down the fish population. Migratory birds flock to the area and breed during the season. All this would be lost with the cutting of mangroves,” he said.
A survey done in 24 villages in Kannur found mangroves in 757.8 hectares of land, which included 49.77 hectares in private and 261.03 hectares in government land. While most of the government land has been acquired by the Forest department and declared reserve forest, the process to acquire private land is moving at a snail’s pace.
“If mangrove felling is allowed to continue at this pace, very soon they will be extinct. This will create huge environmental problems and those living on the river banks here will be the biggest losers,” he said.
Rajan has more than 5,000 saplings of various varieties of mangroves in his nursery. His plans for the future include developing the nursery, planting more mangroves, encouraging others to protect them.
