A Thiruvananthapuram-based researcher who led the data collection for a Marine Biodiversity Register for the Thiruvananthapuram coast has accused the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB), which commissioned the project, of publishing an incomplete document.
Robert Panipilla, who led the survey as Project Coordinator, said the KSBB had omitted critical portions of the inputs on marine life forms that his team had provided. The KSBB also neglected to name or give credit to 106 traditional fishers (indigenous local knowledge holders) who played a vital role in the compilation of the data and without whose help it would have been impossible, he said.
Mr. Panipilla’s allegations have, in fact, come seven years after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan officially released the Register - then billed the first of its kind among State biodiversity boards - in 2017. Mr. Panipilla, who leads the Friends of Marine Life (FML), a Valiyathura-based marine researchers’ collective, attributed the time lag to the difficulty that he had faced in obtaining a copy of the register and to his own departure to the United States in 2019.
“I returned to Kerala last month and only then did I get an opportunity to examine the KSBB register. We transferred to them the fishing community’s knowledge, but the community members did not find a mention in the register. Close to 60% of the inputs on marine ecology that we provided were omitted. Further, the Marine Biodiversity Register is still inaccessible to the public,” he said.
According to Mr. Panipilla, he and his team had covered the Thiruvananthapuram coast in two phases and submitted their report in 2015. But the final document published by the KSBB two years later omitted five marine phyla including bryozoa and annelids (worms), painstakingly listed with the help of the Sadiq Ali, a local diver, and his team. Other significant omissions include 40 varieties of crabs, 16 corals, 35 species of jellyfish and sea anemone, 26 species of shrimps and 142 species of fishes. Curiously, the KSBB had thought it fit to dedicate ten pages of the Marine Biodiversity Register to butterflies and odonates, he said.
Fishers Alex, James and Stephen, who were among the fishers who helped compile data for the Marine Biodiversity Register, with the original report submitted to the KSBB:
Mr. Panipilla said the KSBB had initially denied him a copy of the register. He eventually managed to get hold of a copy on the strength of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Omitting the names of the 106 traditional fishers who assisted the survey is, in reality, a violation of their intellectual property rights, according to FML.
Oommen V. Oommen, former chairman of KSBB, refuted Mr. Panipilla’s charges, saying there was little or no scope for a complaint. The Marine Biodiversity Register was not designed as a People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) that gets published by local self government institutions. Also, the compiled data belong to the KSBB and it had every right to edit them, Dr. Oommen said. But he added that he was not clear whether any omissions were made. V. Balakrishnan, the current Member Secretary of KSBB, also echoed Dr. Oommen’s stand, saying that a purely scientific report should not be confused with a PBR.
Nevertheless, Mr. Panipilla points to KSBB proceedings dated March 27, 2013, which notes: ‘KSBB - Plan schemes (2012-13) - Preparation of People’s Biodiversity Register - Preparation of PBR - Marine Biodiversity Register of Trivandrum Coast - Documentation of people’s traditional knowledge on the marine ecology.’ If the KSBB is unwilling to publish a corrected edition, the FML was prepared to do so with the help of scientists who are willing to cooperate, Mr. Panipilla said.
