Even as overfishing and oceanic pollution are causing a serious shortage of fish off Goa’s coastline, mining silt and toxins in the rivers are taking a toll on its shellfish population, especially mussels and clams.
Last month, Goa’s environment ministry launched a probe into the mysterious death of thousands of clams in one of the state’s biggest clam-beds, off the coastal village of Velim, about 50 km from Panaji.
Preliminary investigation suggests the clam deaths could be caused due to toxin-induced stress or lack of oxygen in the water level, said state forest and environment minister Alina Saldanha. The clam colony here has existed for centuries.
"Marine scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography tell me their report will be completed in a couple of weeks," Saldanha told Scroll.in.
Shellfish like oysters, clams and mussels are an important part of the Goan diet. Clams are eaten as crumb-fried cutlets, stewed with coconut or curried. Many Goans eat the previous night's tisreo curry for breakfast with warm bread dunked in the spicy gravy.
Apart from the dispiriting accounts from Velim, other clam-hunting areas, like the picturesque bays of Chapora and Siolim, are also reporting shrunken harvests. Vikas Harmalkar, a resident of Chapora, regularly wades into the boggy sand at low tide with fellow fisherfolk to gather clams. “Not only has the number of clams we collect come down,” he said, “even the amount of meat [the edible soft tissue within the hard calcified shell] in it appears to have reduced.”
Exact statistics are impossible to come by because the state government does not keep an official record of the shellfish harvested in Goa. But the crisis is evident in the market. Over the last year, the price of a wanto of clams – there are around 50 to a wanto – has risen from Rs 50 to Rs 200.
“In most cases we have found out that the death is due to organic pollution caused by humans,” said Joe D’Souza, a member of the Goa State Biodiversity Board. “This can be garbage, sewage or other pollutants dumped into the water.” D’Souza is a member of the team that inspected the shrinking of the Velim clam bed.
Experts also blame the rampant mining in the state. Madhav Gadgil, a recipient of the Padma Bhushan for services to India’s ecology, blames the reduction of fish and shellfish populations to three key factors: “turbidity in water, increased sedimentation and oil, iron and manganese pollution”.
An NIO report published in 2013 says that Goa’s two principal rivers, the Mandovi and the Zuari, along the banks of which the clam deaths occurred are highly contaminated with iron and other metal content, including manganese and aluminum.
The report, based on the findings of a joint study by Chinese and Indian oceanographers goes on to state: “Since ore handling i.e. loading in barges, transporting and reloading at the port or mid-stream in giant ships, is done in an open system, one would expect abundant spilled-over ore material into the estuaries" of the two rivers.” China is one of the largest importers of Goan iron ore.
“Shipbuilding industries on the shores of both rivers may have contributed to the trace metals,” the report contends, adding that in some areas in the two rivers pollution had reached “significant” levels.
Dr Baban Ingole, a marine scientist with the NIO who predicted in 2010 that there would be a fish shortage off the coast of Goa, says the increased acidity of river water is dissolving the shells of clams, and the state may soon run out of mussels altogether. “Mussel seed in the Vasco bay area is seriously depleted," he said. "Very soon Goa will not have any mussels left. Most sold here are from elsewhere in any case.”
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Last month, Goa’s environment ministry launched a probe into the mysterious death of thousands of clams in one of the state’s biggest clam-beds, off the coastal village of Velim, about 50 km from Panaji.
Preliminary investigation suggests the clam deaths could be caused due to toxin-induced stress or lack of oxygen in the water level, said state forest and environment minister Alina Saldanha. The clam colony here has existed for centuries.
"Marine scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography tell me their report will be completed in a couple of weeks," Saldanha told Scroll.in.
Shellfish like oysters, clams and mussels are an important part of the Goan diet. Clams are eaten as crumb-fried cutlets, stewed with coconut or curried. Many Goans eat the previous night's tisreo curry for breakfast with warm bread dunked in the spicy gravy.
Apart from the dispiriting accounts from Velim, other clam-hunting areas, like the picturesque bays of Chapora and Siolim, are also reporting shrunken harvests. Vikas Harmalkar, a resident of Chapora, regularly wades into the boggy sand at low tide with fellow fisherfolk to gather clams. “Not only has the number of clams we collect come down,” he said, “even the amount of meat [the edible soft tissue within the hard calcified shell] in it appears to have reduced.”
Exact statistics are impossible to come by because the state government does not keep an official record of the shellfish harvested in Goa. But the crisis is evident in the market. Over the last year, the price of a wanto of clams – there are around 50 to a wanto – has risen from Rs 50 to Rs 200.
“In most cases we have found out that the death is due to organic pollution caused by humans,” said Joe D’Souza, a member of the Goa State Biodiversity Board. “This can be garbage, sewage or other pollutants dumped into the water.” D’Souza is a member of the team that inspected the shrinking of the Velim clam bed.
Experts also blame the rampant mining in the state. Madhav Gadgil, a recipient of the Padma Bhushan for services to India’s ecology, blames the reduction of fish and shellfish populations to three key factors: “turbidity in water, increased sedimentation and oil, iron and manganese pollution”.
An NIO report published in 2013 says that Goa’s two principal rivers, the Mandovi and the Zuari, along the banks of which the clam deaths occurred are highly contaminated with iron and other metal content, including manganese and aluminum.
The report, based on the findings of a joint study by Chinese and Indian oceanographers goes on to state: “Since ore handling i.e. loading in barges, transporting and reloading at the port or mid-stream in giant ships, is done in an open system, one would expect abundant spilled-over ore material into the estuaries" of the two rivers.” China is one of the largest importers of Goan iron ore.
“Shipbuilding industries on the shores of both rivers may have contributed to the trace metals,” the report contends, adding that in some areas in the two rivers pollution had reached “significant” levels.
Dr Baban Ingole, a marine scientist with the NIO who predicted in 2010 that there would be a fish shortage off the coast of Goa, says the increased acidity of river water is dissolving the shells of clams, and the state may soon run out of mussels altogether. “Mussel seed in the Vasco bay area is seriously depleted," he said. "Very soon Goa will not have any mussels left. Most sold here are from elsewhere in any case.”