ANTHROPOGENIC

ACTIVITIES AND
THEIR EFFECTS ON
FISHERIES

DIPENDRA PRASAD DAS

M.F.Sc. 2nd SEMESTER
DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY AND APPLIED AQUACULTURE
BARKATULLAH UNIVERSITY
 CONTENTS 1
 INTRODUCTION
 ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIVITIES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON FISHERIES
1. Construction Of Dams And Barrages And Its Effects
2. Mining And Its Effects
3. Sewage And Domestic Wastes And Its Effects
4. Oil Spills And Its Effects
5. Industrial Effluents And Its Effects
6. Agriculture Discharge And Its Effects
7. Thermal And Radioactive Pollutants And Its Effects
8. Effects Of Destructive Fishing Practices
9. Overfishing And Its Effects
10.Introduction Of Exotics And Its Effects
 PROTECTION
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES
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INTRODUCTION
• The word “Anthropogenic” refers to environmental change
caused or influenced by the people either directly or
indirectly.
• ‘Anthropo’ comes from the Greek word and means having to
do with humanity and ‘Genic’ comes from the Greek word
and refers to creation.
• Industrialization, pollution, deforestation, urbanization,
building dams, etc., are some of the anthropogenic changes
that affect the ecosystem. These changes which are the
result of human activities are known as anthropogenic
changes.
• Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil
 ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIVITIES AND THEIR 3
EFFECTS ON FISHERIES
1. Construction Of Dams And Barrages And Its
Effects:
• Construction of dams and barrages across the river is one of
the typical example of human interference in causing major
alterations in hydrological regime leading to imbalance in the
biotic diversity of the aquatic ecosystem.
• These environmental modifications have led to inbreeding
within a small population rendering genetic drift with decreased
genetic variability.
• Migration of fish between freshwater, estuary and marine
environment is a process required for enriching and sustaining
the biodiversity including enhancement of productivity. Failure
of such mechanism have led to loss of habitat and thus
extinction of some commercially important fish species or
pushed them under endangered or threatened category.
• As a consequences of dam construction and flow regulation as
well as flow diversion, the riverbed downstream dries up during
dry months and severely damage the aquatic biodiversity as a
whole.
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2. Mining And Its Effects
• Mining is the extraction of minerals and metals from
the earth.
• Mining can pollute the environment by producing
sediment, changes in pH, toxic heavy metals and
alternations in stream channel and streamflow.
• Acid is a major pollutant from mine drainage and leads
to elimination of sensitive species and proliferation of
tolerant species, reduction in density, biomass and
diversity of aquatic organisms.
• Dissolved heavy metals are toxic to aquatic biota, fish
mortality results from exposure to high metal
concentrations but low exposure produces chronic Fig: Mining effects on a water body
effects, such as behavioral changes, reproductive
failure or fry mortality, which ultimately affect species
survival.
IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET
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3. Sewage And Domestic Wastes And Its Effects:
• About 75% of aquatic pollution is caused by sewage and domestic wastes.
• Sewage containing oxidizable and fermentable matters causes depletion of
D.O in the receiving aquatic bodies, affecting the aquatic flora and fauna
severely.
• If sewage or partially treated sewage is directly discharged into aquatic bodies,
such as lakes, rivers, ponds, etc., the water of such bodies becomes polluted or
contaminated.
• Suspended matter present in sewage has a tendency to blanket the stream,
thereby interfering with the spawning of fishes and reduction of aquatic biota.
• Accumulation of sewage and domestic wastes in water bodies retards the self
regulatory capabilities of aquatic organisms including fishes.

Fig: Sewage discharge in waterbody Fig: Domestic wastes

IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET
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4. Oil Spills And Its Effects:
• An oil spills is the release of a liquid
raw or natural petroleum
hydrocarbons, diesel into the
environment due to human activity. Fig: Oil Spills in ocean
• Reduction in light penetration.
• Smothering ( coats of oil have killed
lichens and algae along shoreline).
• It affects the food chain of the
whole ecosystem.

IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET

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5. Industrial Effluents And Its Effects:
• Industrial effluents discharged into aquatic bodies contain toxic
and hazardous compounds which contribute to water pollution.
• Industrial effluents cause deleterious effects on the fishes and
may bring about death or sub-lethal pathology of kidney, liver,
gills and reproductive system.
• Effluents like methyl mecapton and pentachlorophenol
lower the photosynthetic rate of aquatic communities by
hindering sunlight penetration into the water column, thereby
affecting adversely the growth of herbivorous fishes.
• Effluents containing acids and alkalis make the water corrosive
and impair the gill function of fishes.
• Industrial discharges impart colour, foul odour and turbidity to
the receiving waters.
• Heated effluents discharged into the aquatic system may
severely alter the aquatic ecosystem by increasing the
temperature of the stream. Fig: Industrial effluents discharged
directly into water-body

IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET

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6. Agricultural Discharge And Its Effects:
• Plants nutrients, pesticides, fertilizers, farm wastes, manure, slurry,
sediments, drainage from silage, plants and animal’s debris, soil erosion
containing mostly the inorganic materials are reported to cause heavy pollution
to aquatic bodies.
• NPK fertilizers containing nitrates, phosphates and potassium are added
to the soil and when these are washed off through rainfall, irrigation and
drainage into the aquatic bodies they severely disturb the ecosystem.
• Excessive addition of nitrates and phosphorous in aquatic ecosystem, makes it
highly productive or eutrophic causing “eutrophication” in water, which leads
to depletion of oxygen due to excessive algal growth, thereby increasing BOD
of water. It also leads to death of fishes and other aquatic biota.

Fig: Spraying of pesticides

IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET
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7. Thermal And Radioactive Pollutants And Its
Effects:
 Thermal pollutants:
• These pollutants includes the wastes
chiefly from atomic, nuclear and
thermal power plants.
• Thermal pollution can lead to a decrease
in dissolved oxygen level in the water
while increasing the biological demand of Fig: Thermal pollution

aquatic organisms for oxygen.

• Cause of thermal pollution are-
• Use of water as a cooling agent.
• Runoff from hot paved surface, etc.,

IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET

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 Radioactive pollutants:
• Radioactive pollutants enter water from various sources such
as nuclear power plants, nuclear reactors, nuclear test,
nuclear installations, operation of power, processing fission
and fusion products, etc.
• In fishes, radiation damage makes cell membranes
permeable so that the abnormal interchange of materials
through an imperfect cell membrane can result in temporary
or permanent injury to them.

Fig: Nuclear power plant

IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET
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8. Effects Of Destructive Fishing Practices:
• Poison fishing
• Explosive fishing
• Effects-
i. Destroy habitat
ii. Reduces fish stock
iii. Lost of fishery jobs and income
iv. Loss of coastal protection and tourism Fig: Chemical Poison of Fish in Western
Ghats

Fig: Explosive Fishing

IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET
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9. Overfishing And Its Effects:
• Overfishing occur when the fish and other marine
species are caught at a faster rate than they can
produce.
• Effects-
• Loss of biodiversity
• Disruption of marine ecosystems
• Reduced food andOf economic security Fig: Over Fishing
10. Introduction Exotics And Its Effects:
• Unregulated entry of exotic germplasm into Indian waters has been one of
the greatest human interferences in fisheries and aquaculture sector.
• Though some of these have been found to be useful in confined
management, their unregulated culture in some cases have led to escape
into the open waters and created major disaster to local fish genetics
resources.
• Such as Tilapia and Alligator Gar are the exotic species where the Tilapia is
reproduce faster than other native species, which take away the food and
space. And Alligator Gar is a carnivorous fish which grow large and pray upon
native species. IMAGE SOURCE : INTERNET
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PROTECTION
• The government of India has enacted various acts with an aim to protect our
environment.
• The government of India has also enacted many rules and regulations in the area of
aquatic pollution prevention.
• The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1975 was enacted to provide for
the prevention and control of water pollution, the maintenance and restoration of the
wholesomeness of the water and for the establishment of boards for the prevention
and control of water pollution.
• The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 has been enacted to
provide for the levy and collection of a cess on water consumed by persons operating
and carrying on certain types of industrial activities.

 Various ways through which people can protect the environment:

• Control population growth,
• Develop sustainable technology and practices,
• Protect and maintain ecosystems.
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CONCLUSION
• Anthropogenically-induced changes in aquatic environments are
having an effect on natural fish populations and ultimately, on
fisheries.

• They cause destruction , degradation and impairment of biodiversity.

• Anthropogenic interference in marine and inland sector over the

years has significantly reduced fish production from the capture
fisheries.

• Therefore responsible aquaculture practice with proper sensitisation

mechanism form the most important aspects for sustainability, which
can be developed as a sector with minimal environment
perturbation.
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REFERENCES
 Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards on Fish and Fisheries by Umesh C.
Goswami

 Fish And Fisheries by Pandey& Shukla

 Internet sources
THANK YOU