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Not enough fish

Not enough fish sea fish landings in Kerala have fallen by nearly 45 per cent as compared to the last year, says Joseph Kalappurakkal, president, All-Kerala Mechanised Boat Operators' Association. Marine scientists have blamed rising global temperature and ruptures in polar ozone layer for the decreasing fish resources. A report on climate change says that ultraviolet- b radiation coming through the polar ozone holes have reduced healthy growth of phytoplankton, microscopic food for marine life, by nearly 20 per cent. This is the main cause of decline in fish and other marine life population.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (fao), nearly seven per cent of the world's commercial species are fully exploited or overfished. The same situation prevails throughout India.

Statistics of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute show that in 1997, Kerala coast accounted for 33 per cent of the total shrimp landing of nearly 1,40,000 tonnes in India. Fish landings in the state was reported be nearly 2.41 lakh tonnes during this period.

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