Almost a month back, while I was setting-up my dive gear for my regular field work, I was having a random conversation with a visitor on the beach. Coming from a non-wildlife background, he asked me what I do. Now, this is a question I regularly face and struggle really hard to answer. It’s not easy to explain the kind of work I do to a layman. So, as usual, I told him vaguely that I sequentially arrange stones so that fish would grow in size and numbers. His next question, “aren’t you bored doing the same stuff again and again for four years?” made me think really deep.
It’s been four years since I have started diving and, these are among the best years of my life. But, am I bored doing the same stuff daily? Getting up for work at 5 in the morning and reaching the seashore by day-break, spending time underwater for 2-3 hours had become a routine that I religiously follow not that I have to do, but because I love to do. The kind of challenges that I face every minute underwater excites me more than anything else. Sometimes I get entangled in a web of ropes that I carry for the coral garden. Sometimes I run out of the air, not realising the amount of time I spent underwater. Sometimes I find myself in the company of sea snakes that are notorious for being highly poisonous and yet tolerant (if I’m not politically incorrect) towards divers. Sometimes I find myself dangerously close to a group of stingrays…. The challenges are endless. But, when I did the math recently and found out that 95.6% of the corals which were rescued from the brink of dying had survived and are showing signs of growth and establishment, all those troubles I faced underwater seemed like silly little problems!
Under the coral reef restoration project at Mithapur, we have created 1727 sq.m of artificial reef surface, spanning in 32,000 sq.m spatial area. The fishermen of the region, who were not very cooperative at the start of the project 11 years ago, are the happiest lot among the stakeholders to have benefitted by the project’s success. Fish catch in the region had raised four folds in recent years and is clearly more than that of the neighbouring fishing grounds. The area had become very popular among artisanal fishermen so much so that fishermen of few nearby villages are also keen on fishing in this area.
As a biologist, what interests me most is the fact that we could add 13 new species of fish to the already existing checklist of 55! This includes four species of sea horses that are yet to be identified. Another encouraging thing to this is that the coastal waters of Mithapur were being frequented by pods of Indian Ocean hump-backed dolphins every winter. Two pairs of mating green sea turtles were also observed within the vicinity of our project area. These are my indicators of the success of this project.
Since its inception in the year 2008, the Mithapur Coral Reef Restoration Project had been able to educate and motivate a large number of youngsters into wildlife conservation through various awareness programs, ranging from workshops for fishing community to community involved coral rescue and health assessment of coral reef with the participation of TCL employees and their family members. The look on the faces of youngsters after learning something completely new about corals is priceless!
Coming back to the question I was asked, am I bored of doing this daily? Hell, no! Given a chance, I will do this for the next forty years!! As I always tell my friends, I am posted in a honeymoon location where my day starts on the beach and breakfast served on the boat in Arabian sea.
B.M.Praveen Kumar, the author of the blog has been associated with WTI for past four years and is a skilled diver. He can be reached at praveen@wti.org.in.
