Sugandhi Gadadhar remembers the enjoyment of recognizing smooth-coated otters for the primary time as a toddler whereas visiting the banks of the Kaveri river in Karnataka. Lately, she is again once more on the riverbank, however this time she is camouflaged within the wilderness with a digital camera, patiently ready for the otters, and one specifically — Maya.

Two species of otters have been documented within the Kaveri river, in a survey by the Wildlife Belief of India: the small-clawed otter and the smooth-coated otter. Maya and her household are smooth-coated otters, who’ve change into the muse of a brand new documentary, My Otter Diary, by filmmakers Sugandhi and Raghunath “Rana” Belur.

“Since 2018, we had been following three to 4 otter households alongside the Kaveri. We noticed Maya and her household extra repeatedly, and their behaviours and motion patterns had been fascinating,” says Sugandhi. “We named her Maya as a result of she stored magically disappearing and reappearing, so it felt apt,” Sugandhi mentioned through the panel dialogue after a screening in Bengaluru.

My Otter Diary focuses on the resilience of the elusive smooth-coated otters within the face of fixed threats, their household dynamics, and a human-animal battle brewing alongside the banks of the Kaveri river. The movie is at the moment being screened in numerous cities and the filmmakers intention to launch it on a web based platform.

Discovering otters and filming them

For Sugandhi and Rana, founders of a manufacturing firm, Aranya Parva Creations, this journey began off with the concept for a brief movie as an introduction to otters. However the extra they noticed, the extra they learnt concerning the burdened surroundings these otters had been dwelling in and the battle between them and fisherfolk, which frequently resulted in dire penalties resembling otters shedding a limb and even dying.

“I had seen the smooth-coated otters way back, and so they remained an enigma that I needed to search out out extra about. When Rana and I began discussing otters, not many individuals knew about them. Some didn’t even know what an otter was. We needed to share a narrative about Indian otters to construct an understanding of their lives,” Sugandhi explains.

Initially, they began on the lookout for otters within the Tungabhadra river, even earlier than it was notified as an otter reserve in 2016. In the identical 12 months, their good friend Nisarg Prakash, an unbiased otter biologist, advised trying on the Kaveri river and launched them to a neighborhood fisherman, Shivanna or Shivu, who went on to change into an integral a part of the documentary. Other than taking them alongside the river in his boat to search out the otters, he additionally shared his experience concerning the river and everybody related to it.

Two years later, the filmmakers determined to remain in a village for some time alongside the Kaveri riverbank to begin experiencing the waterline. “This actually helped us in understanding the river, the issues that got here with it, the otters and their social lives, in addition to the threats they face,” Rana says.

The filming occurred over three years, with the duo figuring out totally different otter dens, organising hidden cameras close to Maya’s dwelling, and observing the otter household’s each day life. “One of many challenges of filming otters is that usually once they present up after which return into the water, you don’t know which route they’re going. They could present up 100 yards away from you or pop up proper subsequent to your coracle,” says Sugandhi.

Filming on the boat was difficult, in order that they needed to sit on the other banks, and typically the space between them can be too extensive.

“Otters are extraordinarily good. They give the impression of being round, and in the event that they hear voices, they often don’t even come out of the den. They all the time come out once they know that it’s comparatively protected for them. They know who the locals are and the folks they’ll belief, in order that they tune themselves accordingly,” Sugandhi says.

“Otters are very cautious of people. So, recognizing them may be troublesome. They will transfer within the daytime or night time. We needed to plan accordingly to movie them. Additionally, since they’re very good, if we camouflaged ourselves or discreetly hid a digital camera, they might work out that one thing new had popped up of their surroundings,” Rana continues.

Otter challenges

The 52-minute documentary reveals the each day lifetime of Maya and her household, who survive on the declining fish within the river. From safeguarding their hiding spots to discovering sufficient to feed the household, their each day silent wrestle has been ignored.

Clean-coated otters like Maya are characterised by their {smooth} and smooth coats. They’ve brief limbs, webbed paws, small ears and eyes, and lengthy whiskers. Though they are often discovered throughout India — in wetlands, rivers, and paddy fields — their presence is very felt in areas considerable with freshwater. In current instances, the otter inhabitants has been dwindling, inflicting imbalances within the ecosystem.

Among the many 13 otter species which were documented the world over, three are present in India: the Eurasian otter, the smooth-coated otter, and the small-clawed otter. At the moment, the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the smooth-coated and small-clawed otters discovered within the Kaveri river as weak.

In her 2005 survey to find out the distribution of the otter inhabitants within the Kaveri river, researcher Kausalya Shenoy studied 50 websites across the space however discovered proof of otter presence in solely 12 websites. Nonetheless, native folks have seen otters in virtually 40 websites.

Through the years, the water high quality of Kaveri has been deteriorating. A 2016 examine across the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam space discovered that turbidity was exceeding permissible limits in all samples. The authors famous that the water high quality was reasonably broken as a consequence of human actions resembling agriculture and urbanisation.

Within the movie, Sugandhi factors out that for Maya and different otters, “protected habitats are uncommon since people have moved into otter habitats.”

“Previously, we have now heard tales and seen photographs of giant fish, weighing round 15 kg, being caught within the river. However now, the fish catch has change into smaller, and the variety of fishermen has elevated. And the battle is starting to escalate,” explains Rana. “The declining fish quantity within the river has made the otters steal fish from the fisherfolk, which then results in the latter retaliating,” he provides.

Fish are essential for a wholesome freshwater ecosystem, however within the Kaveri river, untreated sewage water, heavy metallic contamination, industrial effluents, and fertilisers and pesticides discharged into the river have considerably affected fish and different marine life. Greater than 60 industries in Karnataka and virtually 1,140 in Tamil Nadu contribute to the heavy air pollution impacting the river. The amount of wastewater launched immediately into the river is roughly 87,600 cum/day, a 2020 examine revealed.

“Individuals don’t drink water from our personal river (Kaveri),” says Shivu within the documentary.

The air pollution, together with unregulated fishing, has not solely led to a noticeable discount in fish but additionally put species in danger, together with numerous mahseer species resembling the enormous hump-backed mahseer, red-tipped halfbeak, and the slender stone loach. “There are additionally numerous invasive fish, resembling African catfish, now being seen contained in the river, which aren’t native to India. That is inflicting issues for the endemic fish which is now turning into the livelihood for the fisherfolk,” Rana explains.

Human-otter battle

In an enchanting shot within the documentary, we see Maya protrude simply her head out of the water, scan the environment, after which return in. Sugandhi calls this periscoping. “They simply need to get to a better level to see if they’ll see what’s taking place round them. Each single one within the household does that,” she says.

It’s attention-grabbing as a result of within the habitat the place Maya and her household dwell, they face each day threats from snares, dynamite fishing, and different environmental elements. So, their manner of protecting a verify on the surroundings reveals their innate smartness.

Dynamite fishing, an unlawful technique to catch fish in massive portions, can also be practiced by some fisherfolk alongside the river. Analysis has proven that one stick of dynamite can kill any dwelling being inside a 10-15 toes radius of the explosion, which incorporates fish, otters, and even crocodiles. “We don’t have any direct proof of dynamite fishing affecting otters. However we have now seen useless turtles, in addition to useless snakes and fish,” says Rana.

For the fisherfolk whose livelihood will depend on fish, there appears to be a way of helplessness with their dwindling numbers within the Kaveri river. So, when otters steal the little they discover, it turns into a battle for survival. Nonetheless, even inside the fisherfolk neighborhood, there may be battle about the best way to deal with the state of affairs, with some opposing the usage of snares and different dangerous techniques to maintain the otters away.

“Not each fisherman or fisherwoman places up a snare or different issues that damage the otters, however they don’t actually like them both,” Rana says.

The foundation of the battle is the numerous decline within the variety of fish within the river. “Fisherfolk are catching numerous catfish, which no one prefers to eat. The native, native fish that was once discovered within the Kaveri, are lowering. So, there’s a want to determine how these native fish numbers may be elevated. If fish enhance, would that cut back the battle? That’s a query we have to discover,” Rana explains.

He additionally provides that stealing fish from the fisherfolk is ingrained within the system inside a number of otter households now. “There’s a want for brainstorming with specialists to learn how otters may be diverted. This requires much more examine to grasp the best way to strike the stability between the socioeconomic points and wildlife conservation to discover a answer that may be a win-win for each,” he says.

My Otter Diary provides an vital glimpse into the challenges that otters like Maya are dealing with right this moment, in addition to the human and environmental linkages.

“Typically when folks consider human-animal battle, they consider forests. However we needed to point out that it might additionally occur alongside a river. We additionally need to put the highlight on the Kaveri river, as seen from the standpoint of otters and fisherfolk. The battle is due to what we’re doing to the river, which wants pressing consideration. If we don’t care for our rivers, such battle will solely enhance,” Rana says.

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Learn extra: Otters confronted warmth from smugglers in northeast India

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Banner picture: My Otter Diary reveals the each day lifetime of Maya and her household, who survive on the declining fish within the river. Picture by Sugandhi Gadadhar and Raghunath Belur.