The Koilemeen Project

 So, what's this koilemeen project all about?

The koilemeen is a tiny little fish - a spiny loach with the impressive scientific name of Lepidocephalichihys thermalis (I do not have a particularly high opinion of the person who named this fish; some scientists are part-time sadists).  

Isn't this a lovely picture though? (by Girish Gowda).

But back to the koilemeen.  This fish lives in headwater streams and finds its way down to paddies and ponds in valleys in the monsoon to spawn (and, let's be honest, be made into a curry).  

The indigenous people of Kodagu (Coorg) - the Kodavas, the Yeravas and others - love this curry!  And it's part of their tradition and diet in the post-monsoon months.  

Or, rather, was.

There is, you see, a catch in this (pun intended).  The harvest of this fish from paddy fields and valley streams has declined by over 90 percent, which is heartbreaking.  The reason: habitat degradation.  

So, we work with stakeholders to protect and improve the habitat for the koilemeen in the Brahmagiris watershed.  And that means protecting streams.  Which means protecting coffee as well.  

And, in case you thought we had forgotten, protecting small clawed otters too.  They love the koilemeen as much as the people, though crabs remain their principal diet.  

That, in sweet essence, is the koilemeen project. Isn't that cool?  (we love to pat ourselves on the back).