Is there no end to man's greed?

The "Ides of March," 15th March, is historically important because that was the day Julius Ceasar was assassinated.  This day became important for us from 2018 because of the heavy downpour that evening which had led to sewage entering the lake and in turn led to a massive fish kill. It was a catastrophe that is imprinted in our minds. We stepped up our effort to improve the quality of the water and are in the process of installing a fountain as aerator. Our alarm bells began to ring when we heard that Yellappa the licensed fisherman at our lake wanted to release fingerlings. 

In this heat? Will they survive? When the water level is falling drastically and many lakes are almost dry? But perhaps he knew better, we thought, because commercial fishing is his livelihood. 

Day before yesterday, 12th March, Yellappa's men released fingerlings, a few hundreds, late in the evening. Yesterday morning walkers at the lake  called to report that fish was dying at the lake. When questioned, Yellappa coolly replied that it was just a trial. The Fisheries Department had issued an advisory against releasing fingerlings in this period. He had wanted to take a chance and gone against this advisory. 

By the time his men came to remove the dead fish, our gardeners could not bear the sight and had taken out more than half a crate of dead fingerlings. Today morning some are still seen floating in the water. Small ones in hundreds. Dead for no fault of theirs. 

Is there no end to man's greed?

Usha

Nothing fishy about this

A thriving Puttenahalli Lake full of water is a great sight. If there is one person happier than us at PNLIT, it must be Yellappa, the man who got the fishing contract for our lake. About a year ago he had released fingerlings of several species such as the Indian Catla, Rohu, Mrigal and the Chinese Carp (Common, Silver and Grass). He also introduced Snakehead, called Varal locally which according to the Fisheries Dept. is not grown much in our city. It is expensive and is a delicious fish.

Yellappa and men fishing, 10th May 2017

Snakehead aka Varal (Pic: Madhurima Das)

The fish are growing very well and Yellappa has begun harvesting to sell in his shop. Each time he enters the lake with his net, a crowd gathers along the side to watch him and his team throw a net into the water and draw it in with a mix of fish in different sizes.

Interested onlookers

A few days ago at about 8 a.m. when the place was crowded with morning walkers, children going to school and idlers, he got a whopper that made everyone drool. They had netted a Silver Carp, weighing over 5 kgs.

Silver Carp, 31st May 2017 (Pic courtesy Yellappa)

A young Cormorant with catch, 4th June 2017 (Pic: Madhurima Das)

Yellappa now prefers to fish at 2 a.m. The seasoned angler that he is, the dark does not faze him.  He "knows" where the fish will be, catches them, throws the smaller ones back into the water and collects the rest in his baskets. No one is around at that time to drool over Yellappa's catch. No one sees how many he gets and how big each fish is. We don't get any part of his collection, neither in catch nor in cash but as long as he ensures there's enough fish for the birds we are happy. 

Puttenahalli Lake Bird and Fauna Update

Here's an interesting collection of photos taken by Madhurima, last Sunday at the lake. 

Bronze-winged Jacana

Calotes

Fish

Greater Coucal

Oriental Darter (Snakebird)

Purple Swamphen chick

The pre-monsoon rain has increased the level considerably and the lake looks beautiful (pic by Geetha Srikrishnan).

29th May 2017

Bird watch update - Storks and Herons

We are delighted to see avian visitors returning to the lake after a year! Yesterday, heedless of the hot afternoon sun, we spotted a Painted Stork, Asian Openbill Stork and a Grey Heron together with a resident Egret, foraging for food. They were so close to each other that all four can be seen in one frame. 

Grey Heron, Asian Openbill, Egret, Painted Stork

Asian Openbill

Asian Openbill and Grey Heron

Painted Stork

Our other resident heron, the Purple Heron, kept close to the bulrushes near the wetland. We realized later that it was keeping an eye on its young one lurking in the bulrushes. We will photograph the juvenile when it decides that the outside world is not such a bad place!

Usha

Problem with poachers

With the sun's heat accelerating the rate of evaporation in the lake, the water level has fallen sharply and there are no more than four or five pools of water left. We have been consoling ourselves with the thought that this is still far, far better than this time last year when we had literally a few buckets of water in the entire lake. Fish had died in scores then and the lake bed was hard and with cracks and crevices. Encouraged by the monsoon filling the lake somewhat, in September we'd released 3000 fingerlings and the birds returned once again. 

The fish has grown in these six months attracting new species of birds such as the Great Egret, Asian Openbill Stork, Painted Stork, Darter, Garganey Ducks among many others. 

Garganeys, Dec 2013

Painted Stork and Grey Heron, April 2014

Deepa Mohan's Youtube video on the Asian Openbill Stork

Unfortunately though, the fish also attracts poachers to the lake. Every time the trespassers come close, the birds flee.

Poachers, 3-May-2014

Fishing, 4-May-2014

With a sack of fish, 4-May-2014

The sheer brutality of these men and boys is appalling to say the least. Armed with sticks, they beat the fish in the shallow water. In the deeper water others use fishing nets or even cloth to catch the fish. When ticked off by our gardeners, they threaten to break the arms and legs of our men. We trustees have taken to chasing the men away and collecting the sticks and nets they leave behind in the hope that they may not return. We are wrong and they do return to fish, day and night. Only a few birds are now left at the lake. 

Trespassers, poachers

Teaching the young to flout the law

The birds return when the men leave

We are guarding the lake and the fish as best as we can while we wait for the monsoon to begin, fill the lake and bring the birds back. We fervently hope the rain will also keep the poachers away.

Usha

An exciting afternoon at the lake!

Yesterday, some of us spent a delightful afternoon at the lake releasing some 3000 fish (fingerlings) into the lake. Fisherman Yellappa whom we've hired to remove the alligator weed from the water bought three species - Rohu, Katla and Glass Carp from the fisheries department. The Glass Carp is a herbivore and will nibble the aquatic weed.  All three are fresh water fish and common species, popular among fish eaters but the ones introduced today are specifically to attract birds and not for human consumption!

The fish

Kumar releases the fish

The specs are fish!

We also tried out our inflatable boat, that we got from a well wisher last year. Since the water level increased only from this monsoon, we were able to use it only now. Yellappa and others rowed a short distance in the water. They returned safely all right but, though we have life jackets, the rest of us preferred to remain on firm land! The boat is specifically for periodic monitoring of the waters, and to assist in deweeding. Boating is not on the agenda!

Inflating the boat

Yellappa 

Next steps:

* We've bought casaurina poles of different lengths which Yellappa's men will plant at various points in the lake. These will serve the dual purpose of indicating the level of water and as a perch for the birds. 

* We plan to introduce Guppies into the water soon. Guppy is a popular freshwater aquarium fish which feeds on mosquito larvae.

For those of you living in the neighbourhood - if you'd like to be a part of this excitement, please email <puttenahalli.lake@gmail.com>;. We'll inform you about planting the poles, introducing the guppies, and anything else.

Usha