Marine Conservation: Saving the Beautiful and Fragile Underwater Species
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He got lucky. He ‘failed' (if you actually believe in that word, and after Class 12 found he had "nothing to do." So, Deepak Apte covered 2000 miles on a bicycle and collected all the information he could about shells.
Today, the assistant director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), looks back at that period as a favourable phase in which he got time to introspect and finally took up a career he is now absolutely "ready to die for." And yes, the work on shells resulted in a book later on.
What matters in wildlife conservation is field study. One cannot be a great academician unless one goes out in the field and thoroughly understands the dynamics of nature - at the grassroots level. "I interacted closely with nature while growing up in a village 100 km from Pune and my mother's love for nature ensured I would be tied to nature too," says Apte, a nationally recognised taxonomist in mollusca.
Confident after his cycling trip, Apte managed to complete his graduation in zoology (because it came closest to what he wanted to do). Postgraduation in marine biology followed before he joined BNHS, the largest and oldest NGO in the Indian sub-continent.
He learned the art of advocacy, garnered more knowledge of marine life and endangered species, developed the ability to convince people about the threats to the environment and was fired up by the zeal to do something about it.
"This is the place where I can pursue my passion. I spent the first 10 years in BNHS as education officer and had to do capacity-building by teaching children and also used this opportunity to counsel them on dealing with so-called ‘failures'." It also helped build his communication skills as he was required to communicate with his students, corporates, and the media. After promotion to conservation officer, he was required to network with people and NGOs working on conservation and doing environmental impact assessments. "I learned advocacy skills through this role, and all of the knowledge came from what I learned through being in a system and getting a salary for it."
As assistant director, Apte is the principal investigator of five major BNHS projects, which include giant clam conservation in Lakshadweep. It has been on his recommendation that the ministry of environment and forests has included all the species of giant clams in the Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
"They are amazing animals," says this PADI-certified diver. "Do you know that giant clams have a life span of 150 years? The longest this species can survive is 300 years, and its size can go up to one metre! For food it cultivates a one-cell plant inside itself, which strangely gets its nutrients from its host - the clam."
For Apte, the tragedy is that there are beautiful and fragile marine species which face huge threats from global warming and pollution, "but since the world is not aware of many of these, most have died or are disappearing."
Apte can take heart from what ReefWatch Marine Conservation has been doing. An NGO engaged in research projects and awareness initiatives for the conservation of marine ecosystems, ReefWatch reaches out to various Mumbai schools.
According to Mitali Kakar of ReefWatch, "We have been doing education programmes since 14 years but have recently targeted the new International Baccalaureate schools as they have marine ecosystems as a small part of their curriculum and we aim to make this come alive for them in the field with a very hands-on approach. The ECO Search programme gives children first-hand experience of snorkelling in coral reefs and mangrove areas, diving, interacting with marine biologists and living in a tropical rainforest for a week! It is adventure, fun and involves a huge amount of learning in the field. I would like this to form a mandatory part of all school curriculum."
Author: Ayesha Banerjee (HT Horizons)
You may also like to read: Career As A Marine Conservationist and Marine Conservation Wonders: Coral Reeds and Sea Turtles
Date: 13th January, 2011
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