CHENNAI: In an early positive sign, artificial reefs deployed by the state fisheries department in 30 different locations along the Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur coast have begun ushering marine life.
The state government with the technical assistance of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has undertaken a major exercise of deploying artificial reefs offshore in Chennai and neighbouring districts. A total of 6,000 units of artificial reefs weighing approximately 5,250 metric tonnes were ferried in fishing vessels and deployed in a record time of 45 days. The entire exercise was completed before the onset of the monsoon in October.
CMFRI scientist Joe K Kizhakudan, who executed the work on behalf of the fisheries department, told The New Indian Express that a preliminary assessment was conducted recently and the results were encouraging. "The aggregation of juvenile fishes in all the 30 sites is overwhelming. While deploying the reefs, we had tied palm leaves which when decomposed turns into fodder for smaller fishes. The idea has worked and the sites in under a year assist growth of natural corals and self-sustain."
The underwater visuals show the presence of commercial fish varieties like scads, trevallies, perches, barracudas, seerfish, breams, snappers, groupers, mackerel, cobia etc. The objective of the project was to revive traditional fishing grounds of small fishermen and create a cluster of artificial reefs, which act as natural breakwaters. All the locations were selected carefully with focus on fragile coastal stretches as Tamil Nadu is experiencing increasing recurrence of extreme weather events and eroding beaches.
The concept is nothing new for Tamil Nadu. Since 2006, the Department of Fisheries has deployed artificial reefs in 35 coastal sites spread across eight districts and later in 2014, the International Funding for Agricultural Development (IFAD) assisted Post Tsunami Sustainable Livelihoods Programme of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj deployed reefs in six coastal sites, both with technical assistance of CMFRI.
The government had accorded permission for installing artificial reefs in 30 locations, which were affected in the 2017 oil spill. The restoration claim of Rs 10 crore received from insurers of shipping companies was used for implementation of the project.
In the coming months, another similar scheme costing Rs 18 crore under the Gaja Rehabilitation Project would be implemented at different offshore locations from Cuddalore to Ramanathapuram covering the entire east coast of Tamil Nadu.