WASI is an association for the conservation of the environment. In pursuance of this objective our efforts have been in particular to safeguard the habitat of the Mahseer fish (tor musullah) and the adjoining unique riverine stretches of forest. WASI has over the past 30 years protected this 20 km stretch of the Cauvery river in Karnataka giving a fresh lease of life to the mighty mahseer, the largest fresh water fish in the Indian sub continent.

Earlier on and in other habitats, the numbers of mahseer have rapidly declined due to poaching by netting and dynamiting. Dynamiting indiscriminately destroys all aquatic life forms including fish fingerlings, thereby wiping out an entire generation. WASI has been able to successfully control these activities in the above stretch of river. By protecting this aquatic habitat we have not only protected the mahseer , but a whole lot of other aquatic fauna including rare species like the otter, many varieties of terrapins and turtles, species of fish and mugger crocodiles which also breed in this area in good numbers. These fish indirectly support a whole range of bird life like the migratory osprey, brown fish owl, grey headed fishing eagle, variety of kingfishers, turns, egrets and many more bird species.The adjoining riverine forests characterized by large terminalia arjuna trees that support mammals like elephants, deer, wild boar and the rare endemic grizzled giant squirrel which survives only in these forests.

In short our efforts have been effective in protecting an entire eco system. Our protection efforts have been through employing local people as guards. They patrol this stretch of river by walking long distances and sometimes spending nights at vulnerable locations where poaching takes place. They work with the government departments, that is, forest and police. As recently as last year, two of our guards were honoured by the I G Forest Cell for the exemplary courage shown by them during a joint effort to nab poachers. A couple of weapons were recovered and half a dozen poachers were taken into custody. Until the year 1999, WASI had the lease to 19 kms of the river and we could generate some income through issue of fishing permits to anglers. These anglers would release all mahseer fish after they were caught and weighed. This gave us a rough idea of how the mahseer were doing. After the year 1999, the Forest Department withdrew the lease and thereby our source of funding has dried up, but we have not withdrawn our guards and have continued to patrol the stretch of river through contributions from some of our members.