KOCHI: The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has formed a students’ collective named Blue Green Brigade for implementation of ‘Nirmaladhara’ project, an initiative to make villages plastic-free.
As many as 50 students from Ernakulam St Albert’s College joined the initiative at an awareness workshop on waste management held at the CMFRI on Wednesday. The ‘Nirmaladhara’ project was launched earlier this year in Mulavukad panchayat to make the water bodies plastic-free. The Blue Green Brigade supports the CMFRI in creating awareness on the need to clean the water bodies.
Fishery Environment Division head V Kripa, who leads the initiative, said the project was launched after the CMFRI researchers found the water quality in backwaters was deteriorating due to the accumulation of plastic which made the water unfit for aquaculture practices. The water bodies contained many harmful microbes that posed a threat to public health, she said.
CMFRI Director A Gopalakrishnan said the institute will take steps to extend the ‘Nirmaladhara’ initiative to more panchayats. “The studies conducted by the CMFRI have revealed the plastic content in the backwaters in Ernakulam district is very high. If a stake net gets 5 kg catch up to 4 kg will be plastic. It poses a threat to the livelihood of the fishermen in the region”, Gopalakrishnan said.
Mulavukad panchayat president Viji Shajan inaugurated the workshop. Shelton Padua, Ramesh K R, K Madhusoodanan, Babu Saith and G Shilaja spoke.