Second largest lake in country under threat

Chennai, June 24: Pulicat lake, the second largest lake of the country, which extended to 460 km has been reduced to an area of 350 km in few decades leading to reduce aquatic population to a large extent, according to a study by a team of experts under Loyola Institute of Fornturn Energy (LIFE) revealed here today.

''Earlier the depth of the lake used to be four metres but now it is 1.5 metres. Reduction in volume of water had led to lower aquatic life though the water quality remains the same. This had greatly affected the fish catch,'' Project Co-ordinator Selvanayagam told sources here.

''The qualitative study was conducted under five experts, including biologists and environmentalists'', he said.

Nearly 300 students visited the lake and found that more than 40,000 people livelihood living in 54 villages in and around the lake depended on fishing.

On social vulnerability, Dr Selvanathan said while most fisherfolk were living dangerously close to the sea, but relocating them was not an option. ''Planting of mangroves and trees which were present earlier was the solution to protect them from vagaries of the sea.'' The report suggested desilting the shores of the estuary to help Inland water flow for better acquatic life. ''Ways and means of increasing the biodiversity in the area should be suggested. Price of fish catch should also be fixed like the price of essential commodity rice,'' the report said.

The local people were also opposed to proposed move by the state government to promote tourism around the lake areas.

''This kind of tourism will affect the biodiversity and our livelihood. It will not help us to improve financially at all,'' the people added.

UNI