Fishermen seek alternative livelihood as catch dwindles….Makarand Gadgil
Ravindra Raut, 32, is a fisherman who until last year, was engaged in the traditional occupation of his Koli community. However, he sold his boat in October 2010 after he found that fishing in and around Mumbai harbour was no longer economically viable. He now works as a carpenter.
Raut is one of many who had been using small boats to catch fish for decades, but are now being forced to change vocations.
Fish catch in Maharashtra has halved in the past eight years —from 449,000 tonnes in 2002 to 244,000 tonnes in 2010.
A large section of fishermen, especially those who use traditional nets called dole or daldi, blame use of nets such as the purse seine for the fall in catch, even as experts hold pollution of seawater, reclamation of marshy lands in and around Mumbai, and cutting of mangroves responsible for the sharp drop in fish catch.
A purse seine is a net that usually encricle entire schools of fish using a technique that resembles the drawing of purse-strings. It can spread over 3km, and costs around Rs.15 lakh— making it unaffordable for small fishermen.
Maharashtra Fishermen Action Committee president Damodar Tandel says that until the mid-1990s, purse seine nets were banned in the state, but the government lifted the ban under pressure from big fishermen.
Now, about 600 boats operate with purse seine nets not only to catch grown-up fish, but also younger fish, which have not yet laid eggs, thus leaving no scope to replenish stock.
“These nets also destroy food and habitat of various types of algae and coral reefs,” Tandel points out, adding, “This is why the fishing stock is getting reduced every year.”
Santosh Tandel, who owns a small boat, says that sometimes catch is so less that he can’t even recover the cost of diesel. “Ten years back, I used to earn around Rs.10,000 a month comfortably. Now, it’s difficult even to earn Rs.2,500,” he says.
His daughter is 5 years old. He wants to give her good education, and dreams of marrying her to somebody who has a government job and does not depend on a meagre income from fishing.
For fish-loving communities such as Pathare Prabhus and the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins, it’s not a happy situation as they find quality and size of fish going down, but prices shooting up.
Priyatama Sapte, a homemaker from Pathare Prabhu community, says a pair of large pomfret weighing around 400g each used to cost around Rs.50 a few years back, but now she pays Rs.200 for the same, but not even weighing around 150g. “You also need to be careful while buying fish as sometimes they stink of oil and other pollutants,” she says.
“Pollution, indiscriminate fishing with modern nets and fishing vessels; cutting of mangroves and reclamation of marshy land are major reasons why fishing stock is dwindling along the coastline of Maharashtra in general, and Mumbai in particular,” says V.D. Deshmukh, principal scientist at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Mumbai.
Marshes are safe habitat for various types of fish to lay their eggs.
“The main reason why small fishermen are angry, and against purse seine net is economic and not scientific. When a boat with purse seine nets comes to docks, it brings 4-5 tonnes of fish and such a huge quantity brings down the price,” he says.
He admits, however, that the number of boats which operate with purse seine nets should be restricted to 60 in Mumbai and 120 in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts.
About 5,500 trawlers, which operate with trawl nets and scavenge the seabed, damage marine ecology. These trawlers catch pomfret and prawn—found in deeper sea.
“We had recommended to the government to create trawler-free zones or ban fishing through trawlers to ensure that fishing remains an economically viable activity. In fact, 32 countries have banned fishing by trawlers,” he points out.
State’s fisheries secretary Anil Diggikar says the government had initiated action against use of purse seine nets two years ago, but it was challenged by the boat owners and the Bombay high court ruled in their favour.
The state is now fighting the case in the Supreme Court.
Tandel of the action committee says the fishermen cooperative societies would become a party to the case.
* Maharashtra’s catch has halved – from 449,000 tonnes in 2002 to 244,000 tonnes in 2010