The Dance of the Ocean

Ms. Mitali Kakar

What do you find in your first dive in deep seas?
Pearl, shell, prawn, rocks. But what if someone recovers a Koran! Lying silently on ocean bed. A deep sea revelation as he terms it nearest to the spirituality he ever got. He comes back to narrate it to his wife, who later dives with 21 sharks surrounding her & ocean moving like a floating painting! She may claim her marine experience surreal but it makes up a post modern myth. Myth because for us terrestrial creatures, her apparent nomenclature for sea illiterate, beauty of the sea limits to watching sun going down at Marine Drive in civil twilight. For her, it is impossible to forget her shark day. For us, it is impossible to even dream of a shark day. Not even a surreal dream.

However, for Mitali Kakar, Director, Reef Watch Marine Conservation, its plain and simple reality.

How did your love for sea life begin? I believe it was after Prahalad found a Koran lying on sea bed .
Oh, you know this story. Actually he went to Mauritius for some work & on his first ever dive, found a Koran in deep sea. It touched & moved him a lot. He wanted me to try diving. Many of our friends were interested but did not know how to go about it. We went back to Mauritius a year later & I did my first ever dive with my instructor, a French Mauritian Hugues Vitry who later became my Guru & philosopher. I did my first ever dive with him. I am a mountain person. I was born & brought up in mountains. I was not a sea person until I went for diving. I did not know how to react. This first Scuba diving experience was so exhilarating that it changed my life. From there my passion for the sea developed.

Can you share the feelings linked with your first ever experience ?
Definitely apprehension, also claustrophobia because there is lot of gear involved in Scuba diving. We usually have innate fear of sea which is quite healthy because it breathes the deep respect for the sea & one can not take it for granted. It was a feeling of adrenalin & exhilaration. I can still sense that feeling, even though it was 18 years ago.

How do you compare sea & mountain? Depth & height.
Both are majestic & magical. Expansive. The concept is the same. These are just two different dimensions. However, in sea we are in an alien medium as well. In the mountains, you are still breathing fresh air but in the sea, even though you breath air it's through a mechanized device. There is a quality about the ocean that you have to experience. No matter how much a person talks to you about it, until you experience, it's hard to understand.

Somewhere you have mentioned your shark experience surreal. What was so Salvador Dali or Andre Breton about it?
I literally meant it. It was surreal because a person would never imagine that he would be diving in an environment with 21 sharks. There were 21 sharks on the day I dived. It was almost like a deep bowl. Never in your wildest imagination, you can imagine such a situation when you are surrounded by 21 sharks. Each shark is very conscious that you are there. You are very conscious that sharks are there. Yet, both of you merely observe each other. Under water, entire surrounding seems like a water color painting in motion. That was the surreal part of it.

Were you alone that day?
No. You can never dive alone. Diving is a buddy sport. I was with my instructor & there were other buddies with their buddies. They were on top of the bowl & I was with my instructor. He wanted to take photographs. Only two people could fit there comfortably. It was like a whirlpool & you had to hold the rocks. At the bottom there was very little space as it widened on top. Every one else was on top & we were down taking pictures. It lasted for 45 exhilarating minutes.

From a passionate marine lover, what prompted you to establish Reef Watch?
I was born & brought up in the mountains. My father worked for a Tea company & we lived in Tea Estates near forests. Ever since, I was young, I was exposed to wild animals. I saw a tiger face to face at the age of six. We lived in & amongst nature. I was definitely a nature loving person, though not a sea lover then. It's only when I started diving that I realized how ignorant I was about the ocean. In fact, there must be lot of people who are fascinated by the sea but had no idea of what lied beneath. I wanted to share my experience with them. Thus, we started Reef Watch twelve years ago. The main motivations was my passion for the sea & also to spread the awareness about marine environment, interact with children & in the long run influence the curriculum.

Influence the curriculum?
Yes. At present, it is very terrestrial. Even in environmental studies, there is very little content on marine ecology. Reef Watch wants to bring about some change in this area initiating concrete conservation initiatives. When we began, there was very little being done vis-à-vis coral reeves even in marine conservation programs. It was bit difficult initially to get people understand what we were trying to do. Over the years & thanks to National Geographic & Discovery, people have become aware. They want to explore & discover.

How did your program for coral reeves emerge & evolve over the years? What was your agenda on day one & how it modified?
Initially it was an educational & awareness program. We started with school children. From there on evolved the research work. I believe it's extremely important to have base line data for a long term sustainable program. Our research was a follow up to our education program.

What are your focus areas on research?
Our research focuses on coral reeves in Andaman & Lakshadweep islands. It includes studying coral reeves, coral reef community structure, base line data of coral reeves in India, types of coral proliferating in certain areas & impact of natural disasters on them. For instance, we had pre Tsunami data. Later we undertook post Tsunami study. Instead of earth quake affected terrestrial life, we studied the impact of quake on marine life.

While human tragedy was amply recorded, this aspect was not noticed.
Yeah. That's itself a tragedy. Within the environment, the marine environment is the lowest common denominator. For us, ocean is merely a dumping ground. It's just like last destination for our garbage & sewage. We do not realize that there is whole eco system & life system existing under the ocean, which over the years is slowly degrading & dying. We are the environment. Whatever we do, we do to ourselves.

You deal with entire marine life with exclusive focus on coral reeves. What's so special about them?
The coral reeves are the base, super structure of the marine life. They are the mountains of the ocean, forest of the ocean. If there are no coral reeves, marine life would be destroyed. They are the roots of the ocean. Shark is to the ocean, what tiger is to the forest.

Vineeta Hoon in her 1997 paper mentioned that Indian coral reeves are under reported & unrecorded. How do you respond to it?
She is right. Until mid 1990s, there were stray one or two individual scientists working on coral reeves. Gathering some information from somewhere & compiling a paper is not coral reef research. You have to be physically diving, taking photographs, observing it over the years. Vineeta probably meant there were very few people doing authentic coral reef research. However, now it's changing. We are doing it for past ten years. We went back to the same location every year & record every change howsoever minor it is.

What changes you have found over the years?
In Lakshadweep, there was El Nino effect in 1998. It completely bleached certain areas. I had been diving & observing in those areas at least eight years prior to that. We saw a really prolific bio diverse reef. However in 1998, certain areas were completely destroyed. Even today, there are just rubbles. They are lying to regenerate again. These are the alarming effects of global warming. People talk of global warming quite loosely that yet another scientist has talked about it. However when you physically observe it in your life time, it really shocks you that such a phenomenon is possible. A warm current originates in Mexico & affects us in Lakshadweep. It forces you to think. After the Tsunami, it's devastating in Andaman. A month before you visited & dived in those places & but now it doesn't exist anymore.

Evaluate the marine conservation efforts in India.
Much more can be done. Though, more is being done today than earlier. For instance, a simple thing like clearing of Juhu beach, for many it would appear like removing the hawkers from there. But if you physically stand there & I am the one who always observe the sea & its color, every time I drive past the sea, you watch the sea in its majesty. If we clean only our streets & city, it would offer many solutions to many problems. RWMC has worked with BMC. BMC has initiate the process of sewage Treatment & BMC officers are discussing the issues of sewage. Twenty years ago, there was no concept of sewage treatment. Entire sewage would just flow into the sea. However, times are changing. That's why I am hopeful. I believe that only when you are positive & work with positive energy, positive results follow. Once you are disillusioned, cynicism creeps in.

You have worked with school children of Delhi & Mumbai. Did they respond to you easily?
We have done programs with hundreds & hundreds of school children. We gathered school children across the country to participate in ocean theme during International Year of the Ocean 1997 & response was very positive. In Kerala, students were enthusiastic at our marine environment program. If we had the funds to hire more people, then instead of just Maharashtra & Delhi, I would do the same program in entire India in all schools right from municipality school to convent one. Right now, we follow this procedure in Bombay focusing on all kinds of schools. Around 250 schools are listed with us. Though all of them are not doing the program every week or every month. But we are hopeful that they will all become part of our program.

Why this special focus towards children?
Even if 2-3 kids out of 300 kids take home our message & try to pursue a career in it, it serves the purpose. Future is only with children. Working with them initiates a movement. You can't change an adult. Over a period of time, adults develop apathy towards issues. Therefore, you have to target children.

You are India's only women CMAS three star diving instructor. How do you feel at it?
Well, I never think of it like that.

But, we always think of it like that only.
(Smiles)Yeah. For me, it was just a logical thing to do. I enjoyed diving, training & teaching people. Whenever there was an opportunity presented to acquire some higher qualifications, I just did it. You ultimately stop at three star instructor. There is nothing higher than that.

Out of Reef Watch, how much time do you devote to training people?
I was in Lakshadweep in December for 8-9 days & took some training. Whenever I am there for a week or so, I train or examine. Either you train or examine.

Is it part of Reef Watch or under Lacadives, a Scuba Diving centre by Prahalad?
I am an instructor. If Lacadives needs me to train people, I do it. If I am doing training & capacity building program for Reef Watch, I would do it as well. I am a Scuba Diving instructor. Tomorrow if Navy wants me to train cadets, I would train them. There is a group of scientists called Global Coral Reef Network based in Sri Lanka. I trained seven scientists working on coral reeves.

Apart from natural disasters like Tsunami & global warming, what endangers coral reeves?
Coral reeves never have to be managed. Instead, people should be managed. Why can't we leave reeves on their own? They would do well then. People who live by coral reeves, whose livelihood depends on coral reeves, need to be educated & managed. Natural disasters are going to happen. We have to curtail human impact through reduction of sewage, garbage & check malpractices involved with fishing by huge ships.

And tourism?
I believe tourism if done in proper way may not be harmful. It is only when it is over developed & over utilized, it creates negative impact.

Can we put a limit on tourism, an expansive industry that we want only so many tourists & not beyond that?
It can well be done. You can not limit the number of tourists going to the sea. But in an advanced tourism industry, they limit the number of people entering the marine national area. However, we have a different concept in India. If it's a marine national park, it's closed everywhere. That is not how it should be done. A restriction should be placed on number boats & peoples entering inside & it can be taken care of by the tour operator. Further, the luxury liners & tour operators should take the responsibility of garbage of the tourist ensuring they do not dump mineral water bottle & potato chips packets on the island. The responsibility of luxury liners must begin right from the time tourists embark on the ship to the time they disembark ensuring not a single trace is left of their visit.

Reef pattern is not uniform on the planet. It differs spatially. How do you compare Indian Reeves with the Great Barrier Reef of Australia?
I have not dived in the Great Barrier Reef. I have dived in lots of places all over the world. According to me coral reeves of Red Sea are really spectacular. However, Lakshadweep compares with some of the best reeves on the earth. They are very similar to the reeves of Maldives. Same archipelago, same chain of islands. In fact, it's just that Lakshadweep islands are further up north & come in Indian territorial waters. They are basically the same chain of islands & coral reef formation, marine life is quite similar. In fact, some divers, who have dived in various places across the world, come to Lakshadweep & say this is the best experience they ever had. But, how many people in India know about their treasure.

What are the efforts of Indian government?
Indian government has made efforts to bring certain areas under Marine National park, which I believe is one way of protecting sensitive areas. However, we need Marine Police or some separate department. If we had marine department dedicated to marine habitat that would be a huge step towards marine conservation.

Do you intend to undertake some policy influencing at national level as a greater agenda?
Absolutely. It is because working is one thing. But being involved with decision makers is very important. That is where the actions get institutionalized, become more effective & reach out to people. I would definitely like to work within the system to bring about these changes. It is my long term plan.

What has been your experience with local NGOs?
We have worked with NGOs like Akanksha where children are involved to educate children about various marine environment issues. We also engage with individuals like Juhu Alumni & Worli citizens during beach clean ups. We worked with A-Net, an environment in Andaman. They do marine & forest conservation & have a very good turtle program.

Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Features Editor
IndianNGOs.com
February 07, 2007