The two-day national conference on marine debris organized by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and Marine Biological Association of India (MBAI), urged to frame policies to curb the issue of marine debris, in the aquatic ecosystem. The conference, which concluded on 12th April 2018 at CMFRI, Kochi, highlighted the requirement of stringent policies to protect the marine and estuarine ecosystem. Studies conducted by CMFRI and MBAI, revealed that plastics had entered the marine food chain and has become a threat to our fishery resources.
The conference advocated for establishing regulatory councils at the Central and State levels to coordinate the activities for mitigating marine and estuarine debris, at the level of corporation, municipality and panchayats. It was observed that among the marine debris, the major threat was from the indiscriminate disposal of various products of plastics and allied materials. The Conference also recommended a helpline to report ‘ghost nets’ (abandoned nets) by fishermen.
Source: Aquaculture Spectrum