Dangerous fishing practice in Lakshadweep

[Anirudh]

Hi all, I just got back from a trip to Lakshadweep and I am still trying to process what I saw in Agatti. There's this program that takes tourists out on a boat at night for spear fishing, which sounds fun, but what they did was really shocking. They took us to the coral reef and started spearing parrot fish, and in just one hour they caught nearly 40 parrot fish and some octopuses too. I was really surprised because I know that parrot fish are protected almost everywhere in the world because they are so important for the reef.  1. They help keep the reef clean by eating algae and other stuff 2. They are the ones that create the white sand on the islands 3. If they are not there, the corals will die because of too much algae growth 4. And the fish can be poisonous if you eat them, which is pretty scary I am wondering how the government is allowing this to happen. It's really disappointing to see Indians being so careless with our natural resources.

[Pallavi]

Upvoting for visibility.  I am really shocked that Lakshadweep Tourism is doing something that can harm the reefs, which are already in trouble because of global warming and pollution. The reefs are what make Lakshadweep special, and if they die, the islands will suffer.  We need to make sure that the ecosystem is protected, and not just let the tourism people do whatever they want.

[Imran]

We should post about this in other Indian subs and also on X, and tag the government tourism ministry and some influencers.

[Kishore]

you might be able to do something about this by reporting it to the [Local Department of Fisheries](https://fisheries.utl.gov.in/FisheriesPortal/) using their [officer contacts](https://fisheries.utl.gov.in/FisheriesPortal/Contact-Us)  I know it's India, and sometimes the government doesn't do much, but it's good that you are posting about this.  Is there a local tourist agency that you can complain to about what you saw?

[Falguni]

I agree that we should not be catching parrot fish, but they are actually edible, you know.

[Navya]

You should also post about this in the Kerala and Coconaad sub-reddit.

[Ishaan]

hey, this is a pretty sensitive topic, you should try posting it on X and tag the people in charge, and then post the link here so we can share it

[Pankaj]

Spear fishing can be a sustainable way to fish, but catching 40 fish at once is just too much.