Wetlands, Fishes and Pandemics with Special Reference to India

Abstract

Water is life, life is water. Water is indispensably important for sustenance of life. Wetlands serve as potential water bodies, harbouring coveted bioresources, which sustain animal life. Fish is a significant bioresource for nutrition and avocation of the people. There are various types of wetlands in the Indian sub-continent. India has c 67,429 wetlands covering c 4.1 million ha. Concomitantly, c 21,723 living species of fish have been recorded out of 39,900 species of vertebrates. Of these, c 8411 are freshwater (FW) species and c 11,650 are marine. India recorded c 2500 species of fishes; of which, c 930 live in FW and c 1570 are marine. The hitherto unknown dreadful, virulent, enigmatic Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), has been sweeping the FW fishes in an epidemic dimension, unhindered, unimpeded and unabated, almost semi-globally; and, has been causing large-scale mortality among them, since 1988, rendering many of them endangered. Concomitantly, the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, among the human, was first reported at Wuhan, China, in late December 2019. The first 54 reported cases of COVID-19 were observed in December 2019 at Wuhan, China, and this, subsequently, had spread across the globe. India has been facing much impacts of COVID19 pandemic since its inception in China.