Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown on Small Scale Fishers (SSF) Engaged in Floodplain Wetland Fisheries: Evidences from Three States in India

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented human health crisis in recent global history with rippling social and economic effects. The outbreak in India has resulted in emergency lockdown in the country for more than two months and that caused decline in the fish catch has severely affected the life and livelihoods of the fishers. The wetlands offers tremendous scope for expanding both culture and capture based fisheries for livelihood security of fishers. They also play a key role in socio-economic development by generating employment and livelihood in the studied regions. In the present study a systematic rapid assessment was conducted to find the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on floodplain wetland fisheries in India to evaluate the impact of lockdown on wetland fisheries production, income and food access. We undertook a rapid telephone survey with 176 wetland fishers in 3 states. Fishers of three Indian States Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam lost 20, 25, and 9 fishing days respectively. Fish harvest during March to May was 32, 44 and 20 percentage lower respectively than the previous year in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. Fishers of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam lost income of INR 10000/-, 12500/- and 4500/-due to lockdown. Demand supply gap during the lockdown led to the in 20–40 percent increase in farm gate price of fishes at the wetland level. The wetland fisheries potential to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ‘eradication of poverty’; ‘zero hunger’ and ‘good health and well being’ have also been considerably impacted due to this pandemic. The paper discusses several magnitudes of immediate impacts of lockdown on floodplain wetland fishers livelihood, income and food access, highlights issues and suggests strategies, advisories and decisions support to mitigate the impact.

Effects of Inundation on Water Chemistry and Invertebrates in Floodplain Wetlands

Floodplain wetlands play a significant role in the storage of sediment and water and support high levels of nutrient cycling that lead to substantial primary production and high biodiversity. This storage, cycling and production system is driven by intermittent inundation. In regulated rivers the link between channel flows and floodplain inundation is often impacted with reduction in the frequency and duration of inundation. Managed floodplain inundation is us being used as a tool to help restore floodplain wetland processes and rehabilitate river systems. However, the use of managed water for the environment remains contentious and it is important to quantify the outcomes of re-introducing water to floodplain wetland systems. We examined the effects of environmental floodplain watering on water chemistry and three groups of invertebrates, including benthic and pelagic invertebrates and macroinvertebrates, in wetlands on the Gwydir River system in the north of the Murray-Darling Basin. We hypothesised that wetlands that were inundated for longer periods of time would have altered water chemistry and support a greater richness and abundance of invertebrates, thus altering their assemblage structures. Water chemistry and the assemblage structure of all three invertebrate groups in the wetlands was significantly influenced by the time since connection (TSC) to their respective rivers and therefore inundation period. The microinvertebrate abundance of was positively associated with TSC, but not macroinvertebrates. This suggests that the duration of connection between the channel and floodplain is important in maintaining the ecology and food webs in the wetlands.

A Review of Coupled Hydrologic-Hydraulic Models for Floodplain Assessments in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges for Floodplain Wetland Management

Floodplain wetlands are a fundamental part of the African continent’s ecosystem and serve as habitat for fish and wildlife species, biodiversity, and micro-organisms that support life. It is generally recognised that wetlands are and remain fragile ecosystems that should be subject to sustainable conservation and management through the use of sustainable tools. In this paper, we propose a synthesis of the state of art concerning coupled hydrologic and hydraulic models for floodplains assessments in Africa. Case studies reviewed in this paper have pointed out the potential of applying coupled hydrologic and hydraulic models and the opportunities present to be used in Africa especially for data scarce and large basin for floodplain assessments through the use of available open access models, coupling frameworks and remotely sensed datasets. To our knowledge this is the first case study review of this kind on this topic. A Hydrological model coupled with Hydraulic Model of the floodplain provides improvements in floodplain model simulations and hence better information for floodplain management. Consequently, this would lead to improved decision-making and planning of adaption and mitigation measures for sound floodplain wetland management plans and programmes especially with the advent of climate change and variability.