InSeason Fish

🐟Today’s field story, we are taking you to Central Kerala with Yadu @yadu_baby! Read about Yadu’s experience while carrying out fieldwork as part of this research. This is a story recounted by a fisherman which happened many years ago.🦈 ‘As part of a rhino rays survey with @ashokauniv, I visited many harbours. Harbours have always been fascinating places for me because they allow me to interact with people from different places, with different stories. However, apart from Malayalam, my knowledge of other languages was limited. But somehow, I managed to fill the gap of languages in my communication. Often, our stories, smiles, and shared cups of chai bridged the gaps. It was a busy auction day on a rainy morning. I approached a fisherman for an interview there. He told me to come to his boat after the auction. When I arrived, his crew was waiting. Many of them were from Tamil Nadu. With my broken Tamil, I managed to engage them in conversation. As we discussed various topics, I mentioned sawfish. One crew member spoke up, saying sawfish had been caught in Sri Lanka years ago. Curious, I asked him how he knew. Had he been to Sri Lankan waters? The group laughed, and one man pointed to a younger crew member. “He still has marks from Jaffna police lathis on his back,” he said. The young man smiled as he shared his story. A few years ago, while fishing near the maritime border, Sri Lankan authorities apprehended him and his crew. He was a minor at the time. They were beaten and detained, yet here he was, smiling as he recounted the experience. I asked him how he felt about returning to the sea after such an incident. Didn’t the memory haunt him? He responded with a smile: "This is normal for us. Fishermen from both countries are often caught—Indians by the Sri Lankan military and Sri Lankans by the Indian military. Sometimes there’s even firing. But what can we do? You can’t make a fence in the ocean. These boundaries aren’t ours. Yet, no matter what, we must go to the sea—for our lives." His words stayed with me. A child caught by another country’s military, beaten, and yet carrying no bitterness. His resilience was humbling. As the rain stopped, a rainbow arched across the sky. We shared a cup of chai and admired the view before they departed on their boat.

🐟Swipe to read about how fish are symbols of culture, history, and community. From ancient rituals to modern cuisine, fish connect us to the past and shape our shared identities! #culture #fish #world #lengends #tradition # #inseasonfish

Dive into India's seaweed forests with The Good Ocean @thegoodocean @Gabriella D'Cruz Swipe to read ➡️ If you are curious to know more, read: - The Seaweed Revolution by Vincent Doumeizel - Bloom by Ruth Kassinger - The Seaweed Collector's Handbook by Miek Zwamborn Follow @seaweedsaturdays for content on seaweed in India! Design by Manini Bansal #seaweeds #india #ocean #inswasonfish #curious #explore #forest #sea #kelp

🥘Chefs play an important role to ensure that seafood is sustainably sourced and to create awareness among consumers‼️ Find out how Chef Shubhra Shankhwalker @shubhrashankhwalker from @goafromhome does it. #InSeason #sustainable #seafood #fish #Goa #chefs #restaurant

Do you know how InSeason Fish addresses SDG goal 4? Indian students, despite living in a peninsula, significantly lack knowledge and awareness about the marine environment around them. The ocean education curriculum aims to bridge this gap by improving children’s understanding of the ocean and life underwater by integrating science and geography alongside Ocean Literacy, Environmental Awareness, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Community Engagement, Resilience and Empathy. Our fishplorations provide an opportunity to educate the general public on sustainable fishing practices and the best way to source local, seasonal and fresh seafood. These walks aim to provide citizens with the right skills and knowledge to make informed choices with regard to seafood. #SDG #Goal4 #inseasonfish #education #awareness #children #consumers

What a fascinating event bringing together scientists from all fields, journalists, influencers and policy makers at Science Journalists Association of India Conference 2024. We learned about everything from quantum physics, and climate change to social media and legal issues with intellectual property law. For the first time, I was called a "Rockstar Scientist" and given a challenge - talk about the science behind InSeason Fish within the time frame of a typical rock song! Three minutes!!! 9 of us managed to pull off this rapid fire science talk - Kudos Roxy Mathew Koll, Sambuddha Misra, Mridula Nambiar, Dhanya C T, Thomas Pucadyil, Tavpritesh Sethi MBBS, PhD, Kasturi Saha and Vishal Vasan Thanks for challenging my creativity and communication skills Sahana Ghosh Subhra Priyadarsini and everyone else on the organising team. #sjai2024 #inseasonfish

A last roundup of marine news for the year 2024! 1. A dugong weighing around 800 kg was rescued and released by local fishermen after it got accidentally entangled in a fisherman’s near Keezathottam coastal village in Thanjavur district. The fishermen swiftly alerted the officers of the Pattukottai Forest Range in order to coordinate the rescue. Dugongs are a highly threatened group of animals classified as ‘Vulberable’ by the IUCN. This rescue shows the importance of increased awareness and collaboration with local communities for wildlife conservation. In a significant stride for marine conservation, Tamil Nadu became the first state in India to announce a Dugong Conservation Reserve in the Palk Bay region. 2. As part of the coastal restoration mission, Tamil Nadu with assistance from the World Bank would be pumping in Rs 1,675 crore over the next five years to arrest sea erosion, reduce marine pollution and conserve marine biodiversity. The Tamil Nadu government plans to set up ‘Tamil Nadu Blue Carbon Agency’ to provide dedicated attention to oversee the preservation and restoration of targeted coastal ecosystems, including mangroves, seagrass and salt marshes. This comes at a critical time when the impacts of climate change such as the frequency of extreme weather events is being exacerbated by coastal sea erosion. 3. The Lakshadweep Agatti Forest Range arrested 4 fishermen from Tamil Nadu for illegal fishing of Porcupine Ray, Urogymnus asperrimus. This species is protected under Schedule I of the Wlidlife Protecttion Act, 1972 offering high protection due to its rare and endangered status. The officials found 10 individuals weighing 424kg and believe that the fishermen might not have been aware of its protection status. 4. ODISEA, a voyager program, has started its 6 year journey to map marine ecosystems, biodiversity and local culture all over the world. They have partnered with organisations, for example, like the IUCN to map the ecosystem and marine biodiversity in the Western Indian Ocean. In India they plan to map and explore the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. #updates #news #marine #InSeasonFish #rescue #release #dugong #voyage #restoration #PorcupineRay #illegal #fishing

🌧️🌪️The impact of climate change on our biodiversity is very real. This also has a big impact on the lives of local fishing communities. InSeasonFish through its Fish Guide shares such real life examples of how climate change impacts each coastal Indian state. In this post we start our journey from Kerala where we see that the fish have to now travel via land. Why is that? #InSeasonFish #reality #biodiversity #climatechange #Kerala #India #WestCoast #guide #fish #sardine #threadfin

Species that are #InSeason along both coasts in the month of December! Get the full list from our website www.inseasonfish.com. How many have you tried? #Sustainable #Season #December #India #Coasts #SafeToEat

For our next field story segment we take you to the east coast city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu where we have Sudha Kottillil, a researcher sharing her field experience! Read below “Over the past three years working at small-scale landing sites and commercial fisheries in Chennai, I’ve had the opportunity to engage with many in the fishing community, gaining insights into the fishing techniques, hardships, struggles, and a deep sense of pride tied to their livelihood. The resilience that members of this community demonstrate is something I’ve come to admire profoundly as I’ve gotten to know them better. During my morning field survey at Nochikuppam, a small-scale landing site, I engaged in a lively conversation with the community. One fisherman explained how they recognize different ocean currents, each with a unique Tamil term, and warned that some can form suddenly, catching them off guard. These "rogue currents" are unpredictable and, if unnoticed, can capsize a boat and complicate docking. Over time, the fishermen have become adept at detecting these subtle shifts, navigating unpredictable currents and ensuring a safe return to shore. Laughing, they remarked that these currents live up to their name by appearing quite suddenly. They also shared that swimmers caught in such currents should go with the flow, as fighting it only exhausts them—eventually, the current will push them back to shore, even if further along the coast. Towards the end, I realised that working with the ocean demands a deep understanding of its many elements. It requires navigating various environmental factors—from wind patterns and rain to ocean currents and steering the vast, open water itself.” 📸 Credits: Sudha Kottillil #fieldstory #experience #chennai #coast #currents #ocean #sea #india #research #tamilnadu #inseasonfish