Rowers who attended a safety drill at Calcutta Rowing Club on Sunday identified weeds in the waters of Rabindra Sarobar as a threat as oars often get entangled in them, a dangerous situation that can cause the boat to capsize.
Rower moves the oars fast. When an oar being moved at a high speed suddenly stops after facing an obstruction, it can fall off the rower’s hand. That can create an imbalance and the boat can capsize.
A rowing coach asked trainees attending a safety drill at Calcutta Rowing Club on Sunday to identify the challenges of rowing in the Sarobar.
Many rowers shouted together that underwater weeds were a major challenge.
An official of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), custodian of the Sarobar, however, said the underwater weeds could not be entirely removed as they helped maintain the optimum dissolved oxygen level of the water.
The KMDA has not removed weeds in at least two years, said the official.
Many aquatic animals need oxygen to survive and any depletion in the volume of dissolved oxygen could lead to their death.
“A fine balance has to be struck,” said a naturalist.
The presence of the weeds, though, was a cause of worry to the rowers.
Aditeo Basu, 19, a rower, explained to The Telegraph why weeds were difficult to navigate.
“Suppose a rower is moving two oars very quickly. If suddenly one of the oars gets stuck in weeds and does not move and the other one moves normally, there will be an imbalance,” he said.
Sib Sankar Basu, a trainer with a FISA level II certificate for coaching, said a boat could capsize in such a situation.
“The oar that suddenly gets stuck will slip off the hand of the rower with a jerk. That will immediately cause the boat to capsize,” said Basu.
Gayatri Sriram, 13, who will represent Bengal in the sub-junior nationals in Srinagar later this month, echoed Aditeo and Sib Sankar.
The rowers said the edges of the lake had more weeds than the middle. They said they are unable to spot underwater weeds from a distance and only discover their presence from very close quarters.
Naturalist Arjan Basu Roy told The Telegraph that a middle ground had to be found so that rowers’ safety were not compromised and at the same time the optimum level of dissolved oxygen was maintained.
“The oxygen that the weeds release is needed by aquatic organisms and for decomposition of things falling into the water. If the oxygen level in the water drops, the entire cycle will be affected and aquatic organisms could die,” Basu Roy said.
He suggested that lanes be earmarked for rowing boats. “A specific portion of the lake can be identified for rowing and underwater weeds can be removed periodically from there. But removing all plants will be disastrous,” said Basu Roy.
“Plants always look for sunlight and will grow in the direction of the sunlight. Since more sunlight reaches the edges, the underwater weeds will be more near the edges. The rowers should be told to avoid the edges,” suggested Basu Roy.