Loktak fishers for banning night fishing with LED lights
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, January 08 2024: Pushing on with its agenda of community-led conservation of Loktak Lake along with protection of the winter migratory water birds, All Loktak Lake Area Fishers Union, Manipur (ALLAFUM) called for a ban on activities within the lake that undermine the conservation objectives of the Union.

Outlining the negative approaches of local fishers using LED lights to fish stealthily within the core area of the lake, secretary Oinam Rajen reiterated the Union's earlier call for banning the said practice within the immediate vicinity of the lake water body under the broad supervision of the fishing community settling on Champu Khangpok Floating Island Village.

Speaking to media persons on Sunday, Rajen pointed out that due to several factors including blocking of the traditional passage of migratory fish population by the Ithai Barrage - a component of the Loktak Hydroelectric Power Project - and overharvesting by indigenous fish using various means of techniques, the population of fish in Loktak Lake had declined sharply in recent years consequently affecting livelihoods of the Loktak fishers.

The necessity to sustain their livelihoods had forced many local fishers to devise different means of catching fish, whether sustainable or not, Rajen opined and informed the media team that the recent practice of fishing at night time using LED lights is not only leading to over-harvesting of the fish but also adversely affecting the feeding ground of the winter migratory water birds which flock to the lake between October and February every year.

It may be recalled that local fishers had recently started using LED (Light Emitting Diode) devise, a semiconductor diode normally used in electronic displays, indoor and outdoor lighting, to attract the fish with the bright lights and Loktak Lake had appeared like acity with lights at night time.

The practice attracted the local audiorities ' attention as entirely negative to the traditional fishing practices of the Loktak fishers.

The night fishing with hordes of brightly lit LED lights and the subsequent human activity in the core area of the lake is scaring away the migratory birds, Rajen lamented while stressing that such negative practice needs to be halted to protect the long-distance flying migratory water birds and to prevent unsustainable fishing in the lake.

Along with the call for a total ban on night fishing with LED lights, the secretary reiterated the Union's call for halting fishing during the spawning period in January-February to prevent over-harvesting of fingerlings.

The local fishers must restrict their fishing activities to sustainable methods of fishing to prevent over-harvesting of the fingerlings, Rajen said adding that the fishers must refrain from using closely knitted fishing nets of mesh size 10 and 13 to avoid catching the fries and newly spawned fish.

The Union is also against the practice of catching fish using battery-operated dynamo-apparatus which is entirety an undesired practice as it shocks and kills not only fish but other life forms including amphibians, insects and plankton, the Union secretary said and cautioned that union members are always vigilant of apprehending locals using dynamo to catch fish illegally.

The fishing community of Champu Khangpok floating island village amid the lake is shouldering responsibility for preventing the abuse of the lake and for the long-term conservation of the lake including its biological diversity as the fishers have a high stake in being entirely dependent on the lake's resources for their living and sustenance, the secretary informed.

The Loktak Development Authority must take a proactive role in designing and ensuring an effective strategy for the management and conservation of the lake with the support of the Loktak fishers to achieve meaningful conservation of the lake and to prevent biodiversity loss, Rajen suggested.

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