Baby Steps to Saving India's Ocean Life

Sharanya Deepak talks to the founders of Know Your Fish about what is at stake for India’s marine life and how to be more informed consumers of seafood.

Fish, and all forms of seafood, have been part of India’s food culture, and have sustained communities around the coast for centuries. But how do human systems affect the oceans? How do periodic changes, like the ocean currents, affect the patterns of marine life? How is artisanal fishing as a livelihood affected by industrial vessel fishing? While coastal communities and fisherfolk bear the brunt of this, consumers remain largely unaware. But Know Your Fish, a Goa-based marine awareness organisation is looking to change that.

Know Your Fish was founded in Goa by three marine experts who work to spread awareness on the subject, by linking the fish we eat with the effect it has on marine systems. KYF is run by Pooja Rathod, currently in the Lakshadweep archipelago, studying how functional herbivores contribute to reef recovery processes; Mayuresh Gangal, who documents traditional fishing practices and how they change over time, also in Lakshadweep; and Chetana Purushottam, studying how coral reefs respond to, and recover from, large environmental disturbances in the Andaman islands. All three founders are wildlife biologists and marine conservationists. While food is central to community and culture, KYF reminds consumers that we are eating away at the planet, and impacting the systems of wildlife that surround us.

Here, we talk to them about what is at stake for India’s marine life and how we can be more informed consumers of seafood.

To begin, could you tell me a little bit about how Know Your Fish got started?
Know Your Fish began as a coffee table conversation. We were discussing the situation of overfishing in India, and the problems that marine life, and the fish communities, are facing. We had heard about a restaurant in Goa that wanted to start serving food in a more responsible way. It was a great opportunity for us, and we started to put some things together: what fish were being served, and what impact that had on the ocean; what were the common fishing practices in Goa — what fish get caught along with those in demand; those kinds of things. Then we realised that data like this shouldn’t be accessible only to one person or institution alone, and so we put it online in the form of the calendar. That conversations began in 2014, we launched the website in 2017.

What exactly do we need to be responsible about? What are some of the biggest issues the ocean faces today?
The major problem that marine life in India faces is over-harvesting by humans. We are taking more than the ocean can reproduce and replenish, threatening its ecosystems. There are several problems to this, most of which people who don’t look hard enough cannot see: ocean health, species that are becoming rare or extinct, and an overall systemic change in the ocean because of how much we are fishing.

Which species are being overfished the most?
Almost all species are overexploited. But the worse hit are sharks, Indian salmon (rawas) and groupers.

And the fisher communities?
Yes, overfishing effects them too. In this whole system, there is little consideration as to whether fish biologies can keep up. After independence, fishing in India became a large-scale, subsidised, industrial level operation; both small and large fishermen are affected. Because of overfishing, fish prices are going down and fish are disappearing, so of course, fisher communities suffer. It is those that fish, and those that eat seafood, who have the most stake in this system.

Are any of these systems affected because of climate change?
I’m sure they are, but we can’t tell for sure — because the overfishing is so drastic, it masks the effect of climatic change on the ocean.

Has this affected indigenous fishermen or those practising older fishing techniques in particular? 
The KYF calendar provides information as to which fish need to be eaten in which season. For example, in Month X, you should be eating Z species of fish. We don’t differentiate between fishermen using old, or modern techniques. They all participate in a system that focuses on fishing at an industrial scale.

That said, the fishermen themselves have little choice in deciding what they should fish from the ocean. Since Indian independence, there was a massive subsidy given to fishermen; there are loans given to procure gear and things like nets, and rods, to ensure the supply of fish is met at both the global and domestic level. Fishermen don’t have much agency in determining these trends.  

But s far as fish are concerned, these methods are destructive. Measures need to be taken at a policy level; SOS actions need to be instituted to control the extraction of marine life, so we can make sure these problems are solved without creating further problems of social inequality. And of course, another huge responsibility is on people like us — consumers who demand fish.

Sample of a monthly guide to shopping for seafood, from knowyourfish.org.in/

So consumers have an important role to play?
Well, of course. Here is a simple example of how consumers affect fish production. Take Mumbai: during Ganesh Chathurthi, people are fasting, so production falls and fisher communities themselves don’t go out to sea much. During Christmas and New Year, when communities are in a festive mood, demand suddenly escalates. People aren’t aware of how drastically their demand affects ocean systems, which is why we created the Know your Fish calendar: which illustrates what fish is fit to eat in which month. The calendar is simple, and focusses on how to curb overfishing by using patterns of food that suit the ocean. In turn, this also brings awareness that fish should be consumed more mindfully.

How do you get this message through to people?
Working with restaurants really helps. We can get through to them about what fish should be served.

When we do campaigns in cities like Mumbai, we have realised two things that people care about when they eat: first, do they like this fish? And second, can it be cooked in a way they enjoy? So we try to introduce them to familiar ways that they can cook the fish that is more sustainably available. So if somebody says we like rava fry: we encourage them to cook rava fry with another species instead of pomfret, This way, we introduce a substitute in a recipe or preparation they already know.

That’s important: to make a direct but subtle connection to food, right?
We had to make the calendar itself palatable; we can’t force it on people. Its strength lies in its voluntary nature; we have to be open to passing the message down in a way people will understand: like collaborating with chefs.  

Is there anything we should watch out for that KYF is doing the coming months?
We are in the process of creating a recipe archive, in which chefs and other people share fun recipes with fish that we recommend, but may not be as widely consumed. It isn’t up yet, but should be very soon.

 
Sharanya Deepak is a writer from and currently in New Delhi. You can read more of her work on her website.
This piece was commissioned by our guest editors, The Edible Issue  

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