Saturday 11 February 2017

Kochi Fish Cemetery - a warning

You will find a fish cemetery on display at Fort Kochi South Beach, behind the Dutch cemetary.

Image credit: SM Jenkin
It's a beautiful installation created by artists Manoj Brahmamangalam and Pramod Gopalakrishnanan, described as "a warning, for the sustenance of life". 

Dr V Kripa, head of Fishery Environmental and Management Division principal scientist at the CMFRI says. “Plastic has become one of the biggest threats to aquatic ecosystems and their resources...Large plastic sheets have been found in the stomach of mackerel, tuna, queen fish, ribbon fish and whale, which clearly indicates that plastic has entered our marine food chain"

It beautifully illustrates the damage done to our ecosystem by the dumping of plastic waste on land, but is it necessary? Don't we know this by now, or is it a case of a problem being seen as "out of sight, out of mind...?"