Volunteers release fishes rescued from the construction site into water body in Mangaluru

A few enthusiastic volunteers and conservationists carried out a new mission to shift fishes from an abandoned construction site to lakes to preserve the fish species.

Already around 10,000 fishes have been shifted from the site and released into Gujjarakere and Kavoorkere, which are developed and protected by the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) in the city.

Speaking to DH, Jeeth Milan Roche said that the number of fishes had multiplied by several times in the water that remained stagnant at the construction site at Kodialbail in Mangaluru. The construction work at the site had stopped a few years ago. As water had remained accumulated and stagnant, the MCC had released a few fish species, including guppy at the site, to check breeding of mosquitoes and outbreak of malaria.

Unique rescue operation

Along with Jeeth Milan Roche, it was Bhuvan Devadiga, Athik D B, Selma and Nidhi P K, who were a part of this unique rescue operation.

"There are few more fishes to be shifted from the site," said Jeeth.

The fishes are caught using nets. Immediately, they are placed in a tray filled with water and shifted to nearby lakes and released into the water.

Bhuvan Devadiga, an amateur snake rescuer, said, “It was a property developer in the city, who approached Jeeth to rescue fishes from the construction sites so that they can be shifted to the water bodies. The developer had informed us that there were thousands of fish at the construction site, which may die once the work begins. The water body had several species of fishes, including Irpe, Tilapia and other native species,” he said.

“The size of the majority of the fishes were four to five inches. Some had grown up to eight to 10 inches, as well. In fact, water from the site was drained for a few days using six pumps before we started our mission to rescue fishes,” said Devadiga.

He said, “We catch fish live and put them in trays along with water. Each tray with nearly 50 to 70 fishes were taken in a van within an hour of the catch to ensure that they do not face any difficulties due to oxygen shortage,” he said.

‘A new experience’

“Our main intention was to save the fishes. In fact, this is the first time we have taken up rescue of fishes. It was all together a new experience for us,” he said.

In fact, Jeeth has been engaged in relocating trees while widening the roads in the city.

Several trees have been successfully relocated by him in the last few years. Recently, he had relocated two Ashwatha trees at the Mangaluru Central Railway Station to pave way for the work on the new platforms. The entire operation to shift two trees had taken around 18 hours.