S WEDMAfi -XA/F--4-95 - Sv^yi. Environmental Impact Assessment: Uri Hydroelectric Power Project on River Jhelum in Kashmir, India Annex MASTER ^™WT*ON OF THi6 DOCUMENT » UNUMfTH) A report prepared for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida September 1995 SWEDMAR The international consultancygroup of the National Board of Fisheries ISSN 1400-7495 DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document BACKGROUND The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) assists the government of India through the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) since 1990. NHPC is responsible for the construction and management of the Uri Hydropower Project in Kashmir. The National Board of Fisheries has an assignment to prepare and conduct a programme for aquatic Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Uri Hydropower Project in Kashmir, India. The overall objective is to make a final analysis of the impact on the aquatic fauna and to evaluate the impacts of the Uri Project on the aquatic ecosystem, with particular reference to fish and bottom fauna. The immediate objectives are to implement fish and bottom fauna surveys and fish collection and classification investigations, before and after the construction of the Uri hydropower plant. The studies started in 1990 and are expected to be concluded in 1998. Within the Board, the Institute of Freshwater Research (IFR) and SWEDMAR, the Board’s international consultancy group, are responsible for the coordination, planning, implementation and administration of the programme. In the mid term, SWEDMAR has been assigned to prepare an Initial Aquatic Environmental Assessment Report, within the framework of the programme. Dr. Lennart Nyman was appointed to carry out the task which resulted in the SWEDMAR Working Paper 4/95: Environmental Impact Assessment: Uri Hydroelectric Power Project on River Jhelum in Kashmir, India. The Working Paper can be requested from SWEDMAR’s library. This ANNEX was compiled by SWEDMAR and contains raw data and background working documents and papers. The data has been collected in the period 1990-1994 by staff of the Institute of Freshwater Research (Swedish National Board of Fisheries), the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Limnodata HB Consultants, the P.G. Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited, India (NHPC). Laura Piriz (MSc) Senior Programme Officer CONTENTS SECTION 1 Report from the first fisheries survey, November 1990 Report from the first fisheries survey, May 1993 Report from the first fisheries survey, June - July 1994 SECTION 2 Report on fishes collected in Kashmir, November 1990 Report on fishes collected in Kashmir, May 1993 Report on fishes collected in Kashmir, June - July 1994 SECTION 3 Report on genetic study of fish-species of the genus Schizothorax Report on the age and gut contents of three Schizothoracine fish collected by Swedish team in Kashmir SECTION 4 Informal report from the first bottom fauna survey, November 1990 Informal report from the second bottom fauna survey, May 1993 SECTION 5 Preliminary list of Mayflies found in Kashmir and nearby areas - A literature study Report on water vegetation in the bottom fauna sampling sites SECTION 6 Report on an interview survey among fishermen of the Jhelum River system, Kashmir, India AQUATIC STUDY, URI PROJECT (JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIA) REPORT FROM THE FIRST FISHERIES SURVEY, NOVEMBER 1990 The construction and running of the Uri hydropower station will inevitabely affect the aquatic life in the River Jehlum where it is located. To evaluate these effects four data collection surveys (three before and one after the finalizing of the construction work) have been planned. These surveys include fish- and bottom-fauna sampling and should focus on, not only the effects due to the construction in water, but also on the increased waist load from the necessary new camps. The result from these surveys will, besides describing the effects, also increase the knowledge of aquatic species through identification lists. Such knowledge is today limited and one on the main time consuming parts of this study. This report contains only the results from the first survey conducted in November 1990 regarding the fish. The team participating in this survey consisted of Olof Enderlein (teamleader) and H&kan Wickstrom (Institute of Freshwater Research, Drottningholm. Sweden) Anders Silfvergrip (Swedish Museum of National History, Stockholm, Sweden), Per Erik Lingdell and Eva Engblom (Limnodata, Tyreso, Sweden), A.R. Yousuf (University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India), S.S. Bist and Shahid Ali Khan (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, India). Material and methods Sampling of both fish- and bottomfauna took place at 13 sites (Fig. 1). According to the original plan only one site, located in the deepest part of Lake Wular, was excluded. Fig i SAMPLING SITES Lake Wular The river Jehlum water system River Pahru Lake Manasbal River BARAMULA The fish was sampled by 1.5 m deep multimesh gill nets at site 6, 7, 10 and 11. Gill nets were also set at site 8 but there the nets were lost. Each one of these multimesh gillnets consisted of 14 three m long pannels of different mesh-sizes ranging from 6.25 mm to 75 mm (from knot to knot). The nets were set in the afternoon and lifted in the morning as late and early as the curfew permitted. Site 1, 2, 3a and b, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8a and b and 12 were fished by means of an electrofishing unit (Safari Research 330 C). The area fished was calculated from measurements made after each terminated fishing. Only one site (7) was fished three consecutive times and the constants from this fishing were used to calculate the mean abundance per 100 m2 for the other sites. Site 11 was also fished by long-line baited by fish. No catch was recorded from that gear. Conductivity, air- and water-temperature, pH and Oxygen were measured at each site. All fish caught were classified to species or as close as could be done in the field and measured in length (total length) to the nearest mm. This was true for all fish exept Puntius sp and Lubco sp in Lake Wular and Puntius sp in Lake Manasbal, that were subsampled. The mean weight of the fish from each species or group of species were also recorded. The main bulk of fish was after that the field measurements were taken preserved in formalin (4%) and taken to Sweden to verify the classification to species. The survey was spared from heavy rain that could have omitted electrofishing and the waterflow was low with a mean of 180 m3/sec (NfIPO, Baramula). Results The catch as total and average per net in the multimesh gillnets is listed in Table 1. Site 6 was fished two times, the first with 2 and the second with 4 nets, just below the barrage. The standard procedure in inventories with this type of gear is to stratify the depth in strata, normally 0-6 m and 6-12 m. The only waterbody in the survey-area with a waterdepth exeeding 6 m was Lake Manasbal. Two nets were here set at 0-6 m and the other two at 6-12 m. Due to lack of oxygen in the deeper strata no fish were caught there. Considering only the fish ­ carrying waterdepth, were two nets fished, the actual average per net should then be twice the value in Table 1 and resemble the relative densities found in Lake Wular. The most commonly caught fish in both Lake Wular and Lake Manasbal was Puntius sp. That was also the smallest sized fish caught (Fig 2). Another small sized fish, Labro sp (Fig 2) was common in Lake Wular but not in Lake Manasbal. The two introduced species Carassius carassius and Cyprinus carpio were only caught in the two lakes and where Carassius carassius dominated in the catch of bigger sized fishies (Fig 2). The Schizothorax group of species, of which 10 species have been identified, dominated the catch in both the gillnets and by electrofishing in the Jehlum river (Table 1, 2) except in the slow- flowing outlet from Lake Wular (site 8). Of the tributaries Buniyar nalla (3a and b) and River Sindh (12) were fastflowing and with clear water. In both of these waterbodies few Schizothorax species compared to the main river were caught (Table 1, 2, 3). The River Jehlum could only be electro-fished to a maximum depth of 1.6 m and that meant only 6-15% of the total width of the river. The tributaries could in all cases be fished across. The densities of fish at the eletrofished sites have been calculated in numbers per 100 nr (Zippin) ( Table 3) but the data are only valid for the shallower river side along River Jehlum contrary to the full width in the tributaries. A substantial part of the fishies stunned with the electro-fishing unit were lossed. In the tributaries with dear-water these lossies were between 9% (site 8b) and 50% (site 12). In the River Jehlum these lossies were impossible to estimate due to the turbidity of the water. Table 1. Total catch in the gillnets and the average per net in November 1990. Station 6 6 7 10 11 Wular lake Manasbal lake Tot. Av./net Tot. Av./net Tot. Av./net Tot. Av./n Schizothorax esocius 6 3 Tot. Av./n 5 1.25 3 1.5 1 .25 S. curvifrons 1 .25 12 3 S. plagiostomus 5 2.5 S. progastus 10 5 1 .25 1 . 5 S. huegelii 1 .25 S. longipinnis 1 .5 4 1 1 . 5 S.