Kerala outshines other tiger States

K S Sudhi, Kochi
The Hindu, July 30, 2019

The tiger population is growing in Kerala with 190 big cats roaming its forests and the State scoring maximum points in mean Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE), according to the Status of Tigers in India-2018 report.
Kerala scored the highest mean MEE score of 90.23 among the 18 tiger States of the country.
The latest Kerala tiger figures mark an increase of 54 individuals against the 136 of 2014, according to the report.
When it comes to the MEE of individual reserves, the Periyar Tiger Reserve scored 93.75% and Parambikulam, the second reserve in the State, 86.72% and was rated as very good in terms of management effectiveness.
The tiger population of the State was estimated to be 46 individuals in 2006, which increased to 71 when its population was estimated four years later in 2010.
Though not a tiger reserve, Wayanad houses the maximum number of tigers in the State with an estimated population ranging between 75 and 80 individuals. During an internal survey conducted in 2017, Forest Department officials could capture exclusive images of 74 individuals.
Since its stripes are unique to individuals like the fingerprints of humans, the photographic identification of the animals based on its stripes can be considered as an accurate counting method. However, one also needs to be aware of the foraying character of the animals and the possibility of overlapping of tiger population in the adjacent tiger habitats, cautioned an official.
Incidentally, the Wayanad tiger area shares its boundaries with the Nagarhole and Bandipur tiger reserves.
Though the 2018 tiger report does not speak about the population of tigers in the individual tiger reserves, the forest areas that come under the Periyar Tiger Reserve are considered to be the home of around 30 to 35 individuals. The dossier of the PTR has digital images of 30 individual tigers captured during the internal assessment done in 2017, said an official.
The PTR shares its boundary with the Meghamali and Srivilliputhur forests of Tamil Nadu.
The population estimation of the large felines in the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve has put the presence of the animals between 20 and 25. The reserve authorities have succeeded in camera-trapping 23 individuals during the internal assessment. Parambikulam shares its borders with the Anamalai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu.

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Delayed start for CRZ regime in State

K.S. Sudhi, Kochi
The Hindu, January 24, 2019

Kerala may have to wait for some time to take advantage of the new Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification for want of an approved Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).
For the new notification to come into play, coastal States, including Kerala, will have to get their CZMPs prepared under the CRZ, 2011 notification updated in tune with the 2019 notification issued last week. The CZMP, prepared in consultation with various stakeholders, will define the development activities that could be undertaken along the coastal belt. Under normal circumstances, the CZMP shall not be revised in five years.
For Kerala, even the CZMP prepared under the 2011 notification has not been approved and the document is awaiting the nod of the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA).
The thus notified CZMP will then have to be revised in tune with the 2019 notification and submitted for the approval of the Ministry. While revising the CZMP, the State will have to repeat the process of public hearing and inviting comments from all stakeholders regarding the changes it intends to make in the document.
It was after a delay of nearly three years that the State succeeded in preparing a CZMP.
Section 6 (1) of the CRZ, 2019 notification specifies that the new CRZ regime will not come into force unless the coastal States revise or update their respective CZMPs.

Norms to continue

It further states that “until and unless the CZMPs is so revised or updated, provisions of this notification shall not apply and the CZMP as per provisions of CRZ Notification, 2011 shall continue to be followed for appraisal and CRZ clearance to such projects.” Till the revised CZMP is approved, the CRZ, 2011 will have to be considered for clearing projects, according to the new notification.
According to those at the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority, the CZMP of the 10 coastal districts have been submitted to the NCZMA for approval. Once approved, the document could be revised in tune with the latest notification, they hoped.
Any changes in the CRZ notification will have far-reaching ramifications in the State, which has a nearly 580-km-long coastline and hundreds of thickly populated islands in its backwater and mainland coast. With its high population density and pressure from the tourism, industry and housing sectors, the management of the CRZ regime has always proved to be a tough task for the authorities.

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New notification for coastal areas in force

K.S. Sudhi, Kochi
The Hindu, January 23, 2019

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest released the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 2019 notification on Friday, opening up the coastline of the country for construction and tourism activities.
The new notification could result in reduction of No Development Zones (NDZ) significantly. This may pave the way for a construction boom along the coastline.
Tourism sector is to benefit from the relaxation of NDZ, as more hotels and resorts are likely come up on the beach areas. Tourism activities could be undertaken in the designated areas to be identified by the State governments and included in their respective Coastal Zone Management Plan, according to the notification.
Most of the recommendations of an expert committee headed by Shailesh Nayak, which looked into the concerns of coastal States and various stakeholders, relating to the CRZ 2011 notification were incorporated in the new notification, according CRZ experts.
The notification has classified the CRZ 3 areas (the land areas that are relatively undisturbed and those which do not fall under CRZ 2) into CRZ 3 A and 3 B based on the density of population.
The areas with a population density of 2,161 persons or more per square kilometre, as in the 2011 census, will be become CRZ 3 A and construction activities could be undertaken towards the landward side from the 50 metre point of the High Tide Line (HTL).
All other CRZ-3 areas with population density of less than 2,161 persons per square kilometre will be designated as CRZ-3 B and development activities will be permitted beyond the 200-metre-mark from the HTL towards the landward side.
The notification has covered all the backwater islands and islands along the mainland coast and a uniform NDZ of 20 metres from the HTL towards the landward side has been put in place.
All the coastal States with such islands will prepare Integrated Island Management Plans and get them approved by the Ministry. The 2019 notification will come into force in these islands only when the Plan is framed.
B. Madhusoodana Kurup, former Vice chancellor of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, said the new notification failed to acknowledge the issues of global warming and sea level rise.
Even though the notification did away with the No Development Zone for the construction and repair of dwelling units of communities including fishermen along the coast, it would expose these group to the perils of nature more. The opening of the coast for tourism activities would lead to reduced livelihood options for fishermen, he feared.
K.K. Ramachandran, a former member secretary of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority, said while the notification attempted to bring in some clarity on the enforcement aspects, it could result in misuse of provisions for eco-tourism activities in mangrove stretches and compensatory afforestation for affected mangroves.

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State may have to redraw CZMP now

K.S. Sudhi, Kochi
Tht Hindu,  January 02, 2019

After the laborious preparation of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), which will influence development activities in coastal districts, coastal States, including Kerala, may now have to redraw the document following the notification of a new Coastal Regulation Zone approved by the Centre.
The Central government last week approved the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 2018 when the CZMP prepared by Kerala was awaiting approval.
The preparation of the CZMP, which once approved, will dictate the development patterns along the coast, was a long-drawn affair and it took several nudging from the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court for the States to prepare the document.
The Kerala document took almost three years to be prepared after a series of deliberations involving stakeholders, including coastal ecosystem management specialists, builders, fishermen, and coastal communities.
The National Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, was assigned the task of preparing the document.
The public hearing organised on the draft document had witnessed unruly scenes and protests in some districts.
The CRZ 2018 notification, said Veena Madhavan, member secretary of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority, was approved soon after the State submitted the CZMP for its 10 coastal districts. After the CRZ notification, 2018, being published as a gazette notification, Kerala may have to revise the document, she said.
She said the procedures to be followed for the revision would be known only when the gazette notification was published. There would also be a guideline for the States to follow.
At the same time, experts involved in the preparation of the earlier CZMP said Kerala may have to introduce changes in the CRZ 3 A category, which deals with panchayats having population density of 2,161 per sq km.
According to available information, the No Development Zone (NDZ) has been reduced to 50 metres from the High Tide Line against the earlier 200 metres in CRZ 3 A, permitting more construction towards the seaward side. The NDZ has also been reduced for backwater islands in CRZ 3, which also have to be reflected in the CZMP, said K.K. Ramachandran, former member secretary of the authority.
There may not be any changes in the CRZ categories 1, 2 and 4, he added.

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Dwindling Grizzled Giant Squirrel species

K.S. Sudhi, Kochi
The Hindu, October 03, 2018  

Grizzled Giant Squirrel is living on the edge in the Chinnar Wild Life Sanctuary, one of its habitats in Western Ghats.
Researchers could count only 24 squirrels (Ratufa macroura) there, giving rise to fears that its population might have depleted by 85% in the sanctuary over a decade.
A recent study pointed out that the “current population estimation is about 78% to 85% lesser than the previous population estimation carried out in 1993 and 2007 respectively, which is quite alarming.” It was after gap of a decade that the status of the species was estimated.
The findings of the study, carried out by Kiran Thomas and P. O. Nameer of Kerala Agricultural University, was published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa recently.
The animal, which got its common name from the white flecks of hair over its greyish body, is seen in pairs or as a family party of three individuals only during the breeding season.
The species is endemic to the southern States of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. The only known population of the squirrel in Kerala is in the sanctuary. The population of the species in the country is estimated to be less than 500 mature individuals.
Earlier studies had indicated that the squirrel population was declining by over 30% during the last quarter century, thanks to the hunters and habitat loss.
The current population density of the species is estimated to be 15.26 squirrels per sq km against the density of 18 to 23 squirrels/sq km of 1993 and 64 squirrels/sq km of 2007, the study noted.
The Chinnar population is troubled by the increased predator pressure and the extremely low regeneration of its preferred food plant species due to heavy grazing by cattle.
During the study, the researchers chanced upon several suspected hybrid squirrels.

 

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New fish species in Kerala waters

K.S. Sudhi.KOCHI,  
The Hindu, August 29, 2016

Fishery resources of Kerala have become richer with the addition of a new edible and economically important species.

A Working Group of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi, has recently identified the establishment of Indian Chub mackerel, a new fish species, in Kerala waters. The meat texture of the species is soft and tastes similar to that of Indian mackerel. The species was identified by a group led by E.M. Abdussamad of the Pelagic Fisheries Division of the Institute.

The species is genetically and morphologically distinct from the other members of the family, said A. Gopalakrishnan, Director of the Institute.

In Gujarat

The species was first caught from Gujarat waters in 2015. Later, its presence was reported from all along the entire southern coast of India, mostly Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Nearly 10 tonne of the species was caught from the Kerala coast alone during this period, said Subal Kumar Roul and Said Koya, researchers of the Institute.

Fishes of the species that were netted during the period were all adults in the size range of 27cm to 29 cm and at post-spawning phase. This indicated that spawning occurred prior to their entry in the Indian fishery, Dr. Abdussamad said.

Big catch

This year, young ones of the species in the size range between 8 cm and 18 cm were caught in July from along the Malabar and central Kerala coast in appreciable quantity. Big schools of the species also appeared along off Chellanam coast in August. The biological studies confirmed that all specimens caught were early juveniles with gonads at indeterminate stage, he said. The landing pattern of the fish indicated that the species had successfully established along the Indian coast and is emerging as a fishery, said the scientists of the Institute.

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