Ramsar status cant help Ashtamudi

The main purpose of declaring an important wetland as Ramsar site is to enable its conservation through local and national-level action with international cooperation for achieving sustainable development. But sadly, in spite of the international status, there has been no serious attempt to gain national or international cooperation to protect these lake.

When Ramsar convention approved Ashtamudi estuary as a Ramsar site it had 61.4 sq. km area, after ten years it reduces to 34 sq.km. Reclamation, pollution, and sand-mining have destroyed Ashtamudi Lake. The pollution factor includes hydro-carbon discharge from over 1,000 mechanised fishing boats that operate through vast portions of the lake. The lake has also become a solid waste dumping ground of Kollam city.