Own up to your mess

A couple of months ago, a small, mysterious aquatic creature washed ashore dead, on the beach near the Kursura Submarine Museum. It was identified as puffer fish by researchers. The same time, a few kilometres away at the beach near Sagar Nagar carcasses of sea turtles were spotted. When a team of researchers recently visited the Rushikonda beach nearby for a survey on aqua marine species, the findings set off alarm bells. The stretch that once hosted a variety of marine species such as sea urchins and oysters, now lies covered under compounding heaps of plastic and garbage waste. Back at RK Beach, the scene today is no different. A sea of cigarette butts, plastic spoons, cups, torn newspapers among others is what you get to encounter every day. Marred by garbage, a visit to some of the city’s most popular beaches is hardly a pleasant experience.

And alarmingly, as much as it is an eye sore and a jolt to the ‘clean city’ tag of Visakhapatnam, it is also spelling doom for the aqua marine species of the coastal belt.

This year in the 45th World Environment Day celebrations to be held on June 5, the theme is ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ for which India is the host country. But to beat the menace in the real sense, we have a long way to go.

Decline in species

According to scientists, plastic pollution coupled with an increase in sea surface temperature has resulted in a 70 % decline in the marine species population off Visakhapatnam coast. Many of these species figure in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

“Small plastic pieces are highly dangerous for certain marine species like pelagic fish that move near the surface. Floating plastics also prevent the plankton from vertical migration for photosynthetic activities during daytime. As a result, the growth of the plankton is hindered. Several fish species feed on plankton. And in the absence of plankton, fish migration is observed,” says Professor DE Babu of the Department of Zoology, Andhra University. Studies have shown that plastics also are a deadly trap for large fish, aquatic mammals and sea turtles. “These enter the gut of the marine species and eventually may also enter the human food chain,” Babu explains.

Visakhapatnam has two types of beaches — rocky and sandy. The rocky beaches present near Thotlakonda, Bheemunipatnam and Rushikonda are important biodiversity hubs for marine life, for instance molluscs like snails and oysters and echinoderms such as star fish and sea urchins. Over the past decade, researchers have noted a steep decline in the presence of important species in these areas. Creating ‘Small Protected Areas’ in zones where the species are present and keeping them off limits from human presence is the need of the hour.

Public awareness

Bringing about public awareness on plastic littering is another solution to this. At RK Beach, most of the littering comes from plastic spoons, cups and wrappers that are usually of eatables bought from the vendors on the pavements. However, blaming them would be unfair as almost all the vendors keep a dustbin along their carts to facilitate responsible disposal of garbage. “Every vendor keeps a dustbin and there are GVMC bins as well. We clean up the place where our stalls are set before ending our day. Don’t you think the onus is now on the people to keep the place clean?” asks 42-year-old K Karthik, who sells muri masala on the Beach Road. Every alternate light pole has a dustbin hung on it.

However, Aparna Dutta, a resident of Beach Road says that though the situation is bad it is still better than before. “The GVMC workers are on the streets round the clock to keep the road clean. I have seen them sweeping at 2 am or 3 am in the morning. The authority has also provided the public with ample dustbins; what else can it do? People need to realise that it is their duty to keep the city clean.”

The cost of littering is evident. Thousands of rupees are spent cleaning the beaches. Now and then images captured of the aquatic animals with plastics bring forth to us the cost that marine life is paying due to our habit of littering.

The recent one being Justin Hofman’s picture of a seahorse swimming with an ear-bud or the cover page of National Geographic magazine showing a polythene bag that resembled an iceberg.