Illegal lime shell mining endangers Pulicat lake

Due to its abundant sources, the people from southern side of the lake frequent the lake for mining. If they find the deposits at low depth, the miners start digging thesoil manually for more than 5 meters like a well and place the soil like mounds everywhere along the mining areas. They collect the shells and hide it at unmanned locations. The shells are most useful in the cement industry and been exported widely.

Although illegal mining of lime shell from the lake was being done since a long time, extraction of saltwater earthworms is a new phenomenon. Wildlife officials are worried over the trend since the earthworms are the main feed for the thousands of migratory birds visiting the lake during winter every year. Wildlife officials said those collecting the earthworms are selling them to shrimp hatcheries at a fancy price. The hatcheries are using it as feed for quick growth of seed.

Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife) Mr Chandrasekhar said that the earthworms are being sold for Rs 200 to Rs 300 per km to the hatcheries. He said that they would book cases under section 51 of the Wildlife Protec-tion Act 1972 against those extracting them from the lake as well as against the hatcheries buying them. The offenders can be jailed for three to seven years and fined upto Rs 25,000.

Pulicat lake, the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, is already posing various ecological challenges for both the Government and environmentalists. Blame it on, both natural and man-manufactured threats, this 460 sq km lake area stretching 30 per cent into Tamil Nadu and the rest in to Nellore district is no more the lagoon that attracted more than 60,000 migratory birds for ages.