Scientists to study 3 fish species for climate vulnerability assessment in Northeast
The river systems in India’s northeast, including Brahmaputra, Barak-Surma-Meghna and Chindwin, which have a vast catchment area, are home to 435 fish species, including 427 indigenous species
Scientists in India’s northeastern states have planned to study three fish species for a climate vulnerability assessment to devise a productive conservational strategy to protect and understand their vulnerability in the eastern Himalayan region.
The three fish species are – Snow trout (Schizothorax richardsonii), Tor mahseer (Tor tor) and Tire track eel (Mastacembelus armatus).
“The selection of these three species mainly depends on their distribution and adaptability in water temperature, which will act as a reference point, based on which the modelling of climate change to assess the vulnerability of the environment can be predicted or analysed,” said associate professor Yumnam Lokeshwor Singh of Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU)’s zoology department.
“It will also help in finding the proper suitable habitat of fish in Northeast India for their conservation and in the development of conservational strategies.”
The fish in the Himalayan regions will face a big threat due to shifting habitats, drying of streams, pollution, and other secondary impacts emanating from climate change, rues Lokeshwor who is actively involved in fish discovery and conservation activities in Northeast.
The move to conduct the study by the fisheries scientists from Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland came after the recently concluded 3-day GIZ, a German development agency sponsored workshop on ‘Climate Vulnerability Assessment of the Selected Fish Species in Northeast India’, at the Assam Don Bosco University campus in Sonapur on the outskirts of Guwahati.
During the workshop, which aims to develop skills of researchers in Northeast India to handle various application software and tools, the fisheries experts from Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, West Bengal and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in Kolkata discussed various parameters for assessment of climate vulnerability and how to develop the model for better prediction and strategies for mitigation.
Dr Tyrell DeWeber from Potsdam Institute of Inland Fisheries in Germany also inducted participants on various software applications and tools on climate vulnerability assessment, required for assessing the selected fish species.
According to Lokeshwor, a change of 1 degree Celsius in the environment, particularly water temperature, has led to a lot of changes in physiology, biology, and the reproductive cycle of fish.
“There is a lack of habitat information in northeastern India, which hinders the process of prediction, development of strategies to mitigate such changes in future,” he said.
The findings of the study will help in developing a protocol for climate vulnerability assessment particularly for northeast India.
The river systems in India’s northeast, including Brahmaputra, Barak-Surma-Meghna and Chindwin, which have a vast catchment area, are home to 435 fish species (as per IUCN 2010 reports), including 427 indigenous species.
