Student groups have been formed for taking forward the Nirmaladhara project, a participatory eco-initiative of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI). They will join awareness projects for keeping villages free of plastic.
A group of 50 students of St. Albert’s College, Ernakulam, was formed on Wednesday during an awareness workshop on waste management held at the institute on Wednesday.
The Nirmaladhara project was launched earlier in Mulavukad panchayat for rejuvenating the ecosystem of water bodies in the local body. The student group, named as Blue Green Brigade, will take the project to more areas after the work in the panchayat.
V. Kripa, Head, Fishery Environment Division of CMFRI, who is leading the initiative, presented the details of the project.
The project was launched after the CMFRI researchers found that the quality of the water bodies in the panchayat was deteriorating due to the accumulation of plastics.
The poor water quality had made the water bodies unfit to aquaculture practices, said a communication from the institute.
The student groups will join the CMFRI team for creating awareness among the public on effective waste management measures and to make the water bodies clean and free of plastic.
A. Gopalakrishnan, director of the institute, said studies had revealed that large quantities of plastic waste used to get trapped in stake nets in the district. The plastic menace was posing threat to the livelihood of fishermen in the region, he said.
Mulavukadu panchayat president Viji Shajan inaugurated the workshop. Shelton Padua, K.R. Ramesh, K. Madhusoodanan, Babu Saith and G. Shilaja also spoke.