Star of Coconut Fish Curry Thrives in Modern Climate

By Vijay Jayaraj

Amidst the serene backwaters of Alleppey in Southern India, where emerald waters weave through coconut groves, there emerges a dish that embodies the soul of coastal India – Fish Moilee.  A representation of India’s maritime bounty, the dish is a golden-hued masterpiece of silky-smooth coconut cream, tender fish and fragrant spices simmered to perfection.

The star of the show, however, is the fish. India, like many countries, is blessed with vast expanses of marine waters. The main ones are the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. Growing up surrounded by saltwater on three sides, I was always fascinated with the culture of fisheries that sustain the livelihoods of 30 million Indians.

Today, fishing is thriving in the subcontinent. Fish landings are robust, aquaculture is booming, and the data pour cold water on the overheated rhetoric of environmental collapse. Let’s dive into the numbers and the science that prove the fish aren’t succumbing to a warm climate. They’re adapting to it.

Exactly ten years ago, I was a postgraduate researcher at the University of British Columbia’s fisheries center, where I was primarily tasked with understanding the evolutionary genetics of marine life and various thresholds of adaptations to varying environments, especially climate change.

Contrary to the media drumbeat of apocalypse, I found that fishes are highly resilient and facing no crisis from climatic variations. In its 2024 report on “The State of World Fisheries and Agriculture,” the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) states that “fisheries and aquaculture production reached an all-time high of 223.2 million metric tons (in 2022), worth a record $472 billion.”

The U.S. East Coast and Gulf of America witnessed modest and selective increases in fish landings during 2022 and 2023. The data show “capture fisheries production has remained largely unchanged for decades” despite reported concerns about climate change.

Fishes caught in the wild and produced in aquaculture “constituted about 15% of the animal protein supply, reaching over 50% in several countries in Asia and Africa.”

This is great news given how malnutrition and protein deficiency kill millions of children and adults each year. In 2023, India’s marine fish landings reached 3.55 million metric tons, up from 2022’s 3.51 million tons and a whopping surge of nearly 16% from 2021’s 3.06 million tons.

And there will be no shortage in the future. Global “aquatic animal production is expected to increase by 10% by 2032 to reach 205 million tons,” with aquaculture expansion and capture fisheries accounting for most of the rise in production.

Climate change, we were told, will make fish farming impossible: Warmer waters breed disease, disrupt breeding cycles and turn ponds into dead zones. Yet, the FAO reports that aquaculture is growing in tropical regions like Southeast Asia and India, where temperatures are already high.

Warm water species like sardines and anchovies – backbones of India’s catch – thrive in temperatures that would make a polar cod blanch. India’s tropical waters, averaging 77 – 80 degrees Fahrenheit, are a sweet spot for these stocks, and 2023’s landings bear that out.

In the states of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, brackish water shrimp farming is a gold mine, with exports raking in billions. Farmers aren’t wringing their hands over CO₂; they’re tweaking feed, monitoring water quality and breeding hardier strains.

So why the endless dirge about dying oceans? It’s not about evidence; it’s about ideology. Alarmism gets clicks, grants and political clout. Stories about “fishless seas by 2048” ignore recovery trends and push alarmism. Activists amplify the noise, cherry-picking data to push anti-fishing agendas.

Yes, oceans face challenges. But the narrative of inevitable collapse serves neither science nor society. It distracts from solvable problems like plastic waste and habitat destruction, while demonizing carbon dioxide, which is greening Earth and enriching aquatic food chains.

India’s delicious coconut fish curry is representative not of climate despair but of nature’s fecundity – a reminder that human ingenuity and nature’s resilience can coexist. As global fisheries break records, let us replace fear with facts, and apocalyptic rhetoric with actionable stewardship. The fish, it seems, are doing just fine.

This commentary was first published at [your]NEWS on April 9, 2025.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO₂ Coalition, Arlington, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India.

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