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Do Aquaculture and Ornamental Fish Culturing Sites Act as a Bridgehead for Alien Fish Invasion in Indian Wetlands? A Review

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Globally fishes are well recognized for their minerals, vitamins, and fatty acids, in particular omega-3 fatty acids. Since 1961, there has been an increasing rate of annual fish consumption across the countries. In addition to the nutritional values, the fisheries and aquaculture sectors provide employment and economic prosperity to several million people across the world. In the recent past, marine fishery biomass declined in an unprecedented way and this decline drives several countries to promote inland fisheries and also encourages inland and coastal aquaculture in their respective regions. As a result, globally the inland fish production gradually increased from 8.0 to 12.5% between 1990 and 2018, and around 2018 it reached 12 million tons. In due course of time, several countries extensively started to stock and culture the alien fish by considering its fast growth, nutrient, and commercial values. India also witnessed large-scale alien fish introduction at regular intervals. The available Indian reports established that nearly 2 species of larvicidal fish, 31 aquaculture species, and 600 ornamental varieties have been reported as alien to India. Besides India had declared 14 species including 2 larvicidal, 4 ornamental, and 8 food fish as invasive. Obviously, the culturing/stocking areas act as a bridgehead for multiple secondary introductions and uninterruptedly facilitate the establishment of the invasive alien fish species in several new uninvaded wetlands within the Indian political boundary. Apparently, strong policy intervention is the need of the hour to curb this menace.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Dr S. Muthukumar, S4 Carlisle Publishing Services, Chennai, India, for his inputs to improve the manuscript. I also extend my thanks to my student Dr Sathish Sundar Dhilip Kumar. Researcher, Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, for providing me the essential literatures for this work.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Former Fellow on Invasive Alien Species (IAS), Centre for Biodiversity Policy and Law (CEBPOL), National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), Taramani, Chennai, 600113, India

    S. Sandilyan

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The design of the study, data collection, and formatting have been done by me.

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Significance Statement: Indian wetlands are bestowed with commendable aquatic diversity; especially, it supports 1027 native fishes. In the recent past, Indian wetlands witnessed large-scale invasions of alien plants and animals predominantly fishes. This invasion emerged as a big challenge to the native aquatic diversity. Obviously, the unmanaged and culturing/stocking areas act as a hub for multiple secondary introductions of invasive species.

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Sandilyan, S. Do Aquaculture and Ornamental Fish Culturing Sites Act as a Bridgehead for Alien Fish Invasion in Indian Wetlands? A Review. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-023-01482-3

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