MUD BANKS OF(F) KERALA: FISHWORKER S DELIGHT

Prof. Thrivikramji.K.P., University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus 695 581

thrivikramji@yahoo.com (as it appeared in an ENVIS site)

Introduction

Mud banks (MB) are very special to certain segments of the coastal waters of Kerala and were first
reported by Bristo, the founder of the Cochin port. This phenomenon, not known elsewhere in the world is
of interest not only to the fishing industry and Marine biologists, but also to physical and chemical
oceanographers as well as geoscientists. The immediate attraction to the fishworkers is the very
profitable fisheries opportunities due to very special fish species attached to the MB or fishing ground the
mud banks are synonymous with. Further, such a phenomenon is also not noticed reported from
elsewhere in the country. In what follows, one would come across a useful summary or rather a review of
the various aspects the MB.

Fisheries potential

The huge fisheries potential that exist in the mud banks attract hundreds of migratory fish-workers with
their crafts and tools, financiers, buyers, seasonal workers in peeling and processing units and others like
truckers, porters, small business persons who find numerous but indirect business opportunities. Due to
abundance of Prawns, sardines, mackerels and soles in the waters during the MB season, the small and
big towns in the adjacent coastal land plunges into a frenzy, and Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai very aptly
used this canvas for his great love story Chemmeen, which later on Ramu Karyat immortalized in his
epic film of the same name.

Previous work

Ever since Bristo made the first mention during his preliminary studies in connection with the design and
development of the Cochin Port, the MB attracted the curiosity of geologists as well as Marine Biologists.
The latter always worried and wondered about its fisheries potential, and the causative biological and
physical and chemical parameters. The Geoscientist, on the other hand focused on the mineralogy of the
(silty-, clayey-) sediment in suspension on the body of the MB, and thereby the source/s and the
mechanism that triggered, maintained, even controlled the loci. Jacob, Dora, Narayana and Nair made
significant contributions on the varied geological aspects, where as, Kurup examined the phenomenon
from a Physical Oceanographers standpoint.

What are MB?

The MB are very special and uniquely present only in the coastal waters of Kerala and that too these
become active only during the SW monsoon season. Another, attraction of the MB is the excellent
fisheries potential they offer the fishing industry. This phenomenon appears only in the segment between
Thirkunnapuzha and Kozhikode (distance=270Km). Another important attribute is that mud banks are
migratory in nature, i.e., these migrate up coast or down coast, in that they do not recur in the same spot
or sector year after year.

Nair reports at least at 27 locations in this sector, where MB had appeared at one time or other. The
marine geology of the MB sector is generalized as below. A map of the sea bed geology of the shelf
published by Siddique, Mallick and Srivastava (1978), all of the Geological Survey of India, shows the
presence of an inner-shelf mud in the MB region, in addition to a narrow ribbon of sand lacing the sea bed
from north to south a seaward extension of the sediment in the beach face.
Kurup reported that usually low phosphate content of the mud water rises during the MB generating SW
monsoon season, but salinity down by 8% of the normal. The June-July period is roughest in the
Laccadive Sea with highest 10% waves. Mud content in the range of 1200 mg/lit on the surface waters of
MB to 1500 mg/lit in the bottom layer exists. The mud is characteristically made of clay (45-65%;
Kaolinite, 60 to 65%; montmorillonite, 15-20%; and illite 15-20%; and traces of chlorite, quartz and
gypsum), followed by silt and very little sand. The temperature between surface and bottom waters in the
MB differs only by 1.0- 1.5 o C.

In the late sixties, a Norwegian research ship had collected bottom sediment samples in the coastal
waters of the MB region. The samples archived in the KERI were studied for characterizing the clay
mineralogy, and there is a report on the presence of coarse sand grade Selenite grains (crystals) - a
transparent variety of gypsum showing a nucleus of sand particle, clay lumps or shell fragments.

I believe that these Selenite grains would have rather formed in the pore waters of tropical beach
sediment due to super-saturation of its pore water with respect to gypsum. Absence of such crystals in
the eroding modern beach (sediment) then must be taken as a robust evidence for the occurrence of
beach complexes (sand bodies) in the offshore that formed during the low sea level stands in the
Pleistocene. Selenite along with the mud is stirred up by the wave climate of the SW monsoon. Kurup too
supported a wave initiated triggering mechanism for the MB.

Why Mud-banks?

This phenomenon offering the twin benefits of (a). rather very safe and harbour like clam pool of water on
its shore ward side, during the other wise hostile sea conditions and (b). a stupendous fishery potential, is
an important contributor to the nations GDP. Therefore, from a scientific point of view, the mud banks are
an essential phenomenon for the marine biologist and the Marine Geologist. More over, a coastal sea
sans MB for Kerala and the nation will be equally devastating. The erosion shadow offered to the beach
by the MB is equally beneficial to the settlers in the respective backshores, as well as to the exchequer.
Therefore these themes have legitimately become a field of study to examine the sustainability of the
phenomenon and resource potential.

The MB phenomenon has been attributed to mundane geological phenomenon like submarine spring
sapping and the sea bottom sediment stirring monsoon wave climate. However, the investigations by
various groups and individuals have come to suggest the role of waves on a sea bed with large quantity
of dominantly muddy sediment. The migratory nature of mud banks obviously reflects the link between
availability of suitable bottom mud (sediment) and wave climate the latter however is a trans-Laccadive
sea phenomenon. The nutrient that surfaces due to upwelling caused by the wave activity attracts marine
life of sorts to this region creating a transient but rich fishing ground.

What lies ahead?

Considering the huge reserves of sandy-clayey, clayey bottom sediment that had been accumulating
since the Pleistocene (since 1.8 Ma) in the continental shelf of Kerala, the state shall not have to worry
about the rebirth of the MB in the coastal waters and hence the income from the MB related fisheries. The
chances are that the size of reservoir of mud must be on the increase, as a result of selective shoreward
transport of ilmenite rich sand (now exploited by the Rutile manufacturing industry), leaving behind a lag
sediment rich in mud.

(thrivikramji@gmail.com)

-----------------