Aged between 12 and 13 years, the students from the Gram Mangal School—run by an NGO—chose aquatic bio-diversity in Aine and Dabhone villages of Dahanu (Thane) as the topic for their project.

Armed with interesting findings after a research of year-and-a-half , the students will now represent Maharashtra at the National Children’s Science Congress in Baramati (Pune) in December-end and the National Science Congress in Visakhapatnam in January next year.

Aine and Dabhone—neighbouring villages off the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway—are surrounded by forest and hills and are located on the banks of Susri and Surya rivers, respectively. The predominantly tribal population of the two villages comprising Katkaris and Mahadev Koli communities doesn’t have much to choose from to eke out a living. During rainy season, they cultivate paddy. After monsoon, they either migrate or make charcoal, which is used by dye-making factories on the coast. And their staple diet is rice and fish.

When the students began interviewing the elders, they realised that the techniques the villagers used to catch fish not only affected the marine life but also proved harmful for their crops.

“They sprinkled insecticides or pesticides in the rivers and streams to kill fish,” says Sikin Karmoda (13), one of the students who will represent the state at the Pune conference. But how could they eat poisonous fish? “It’s easy—just chop its head, remove the gut (intestine), wash it properly and cook it,” says Karmoda.

The students found that the villagers also resorted to power theft—they connected a cable to the live wire on an electricity pole and left it in water for about 10 minutes, killing all the marine life in the area. The villagers also used gelatine sticks—easily available in the region famous for quarrying—to kill fish.

“These are not only dangerous for those who catch fish, but also harmful for the ecological system. They not only kill the fish but also other aquatic animals—tortoises, snails and eggs of snakes and frogs—and plants,” says Rohidas Sumda (13), another team member.

“This was disturbing the ecological balance. The density of fish in the river had decreased, the water was getting polluted and we were losing out on our major diet. Plus, the crops were getting affected-because pesticides not only killed the fish but also the frogs, which otherwise eat pests and insects that attack paddy,” Sumda said.

While the modern techniques invariably had an adverse effect on the ecology, the students realised that the traditional fishing methods, which the tribals had discontinued, were far more effective and environment-friendly.

Among them is using juices of wild fruits to blind or make fish unconscious. “This makes catching fish easier and also doesn’t pollute water,” said Suresh Aardi, a former sarpanch of Dabhone village.

Small bandhs and malis, a semi-circular trap with a funnel at one end, are other effective and eco-friendly methods of catching fish, said Dheeraj Niskute (12), also a member of the team.

Once convinced that the villagers were affecting the delicate ecological balance, the students and villagers started taking out rallies and even staged street plays to drive home their message. “Initially, the villagers were quite reluctant to understand,” the students said, adding that slowly their campaign started having the desired affect.

“The annual village festival also proved to be a good platform to convince the people about ill-effects of pesticides, gelatine and electricity on marine life,” says school principal Rajendra More.

“When we tried to reason with them, the villagers didn’t take us seriously. But when their own children said it, they understood,” says Shantaram Themka, the sarpanch of Dabhone village.

A resolution passed by the panchayat last February to penalise the erring villagers was also not effective.

“Though we can’t say that villagers have now stopped resorting to the environmentally harmful techniques altogether, but the number of such incidents has reduced by 80-90 per cent,” Themka adds.