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Pollution has wipedout seven fishspecies from theMumbai coast
FISHOUT OFWATER
GholProtonibea diacanthusBlackspotted croaker
WamCongresox telebonoidesIndian pike conger
Sea catfish varieties
KothOtolithoides biauritusBronze croaker
KarkaraPomodasys hastaSpotted Javelinfish,silver grunt
Sand lobsterThenus orientalis
DaraPolynemus indicusThreadfin
Local name
Scientific Name
Common Name
perfectstormHINDUSTAN TIMES, MUMBAI, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009
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Aditya GhoshMumbai, February 15
LAST YEAR, fishermanMoreshwar Londhe sold histwo boats and took up a job inan engineering workshop thatpaid Rs 3,000 a month. Withhis first month’s salary, hebought an home aquarium.He could not live without fish.
After 25 years of fishing,this resident of the Versovakoli village was forced to turnto another job because the seawas no longer yieldingenough catch to help him getby. Londhe’s two sons alsostopped fishing: one nowworks as a driver and theother in a mall, each earningthe same wage as his father.
Industrial effluents, oildrilling, climate change andenvironmental degradationalong the coast have combinedto drive away fish from theArabian sea near Mumbai.
Over the past five years,seven species have vanishedand the quantity of catch hasplummeted to less than aeighth its previous level.
‘The fish that remain arehighly toxic (see ‘Pollutionwipes out seven fish speciesalong city coast’ on Page 1 and‘Fish swim away from pollut-ed city waters’ below).
For the city’s fish lovers,this means sacrificing surmaimasala and stuffed pomfret.For the city’s 10 lakh-odd fish-ermen it means a loss oflivelihood — and a way of life.
After generations of draw-ing sustenance from the sea,the kolis have realised it is notgoing to feed them any more.Like Londhe, they have nochoice but to brave the landin search of jobs.
“Costs kept increasing andthe catch dropped dramati-cally, so we did not have achoice but to leave the pro-fession so dear to us,” heexplained. “Every trip to thesea cost me Rs 30,000, while Iearned at most Rs 3,000.”
Under pressureWhile supply has fallen,
economic growth and a risein population have boostedthe demand for fish, forcingfishermen to go deeper in tothe sea and spend longerhours there.
Security patrols after theterrorist attack in Novemberhave made their life evenmore difficult.
Prahlad Marve, 45, whoowns three boats, will vouchfor this. “The catch is sparseand it is becoming riskier bythe day. I am seriously think-ing of selling my business, butthere are no takers.”
“Moreover, checks by thecoast guard and navy eat intovaluable fishing time,” he con-tinued. “Often, we are askedto lift our nets from the waterto show them what’s inside,
which spoils the entire catch.”To help koli families in dis-
tress, the NationalAssociation of Fishermen hasurged the state government toprovide subsidies to thosewho wish to start a chain offish stalls, along on the linesof the state-promoted jhunkabhakar stalls.
“This will help the womensell the fish at decent prices,”said G.K. Bhanji the associa-
tion’s chairman and presidentof the Maharashtra KoliSamaj.
Even if the state govern-ment takes notice, Londhe isunlikely to be tempted backinto fishing. Looking at thesmall fish darting in his tank,he said, “Even if I get a boatand gear on hire, I won’t goback. There are hardly anyfish left to catch.”
Aditya GhoshMumbai, February 15
THE FISH tried to adapt to alladversities, even protractingtheir breeding period. But theycould not stretch themselvesany further.
That is how scientistsdescribe the crisis of fish catchalong the coast of Mumbai,Thane, Navi Mumbai andRaigad. Over the past five
years, seven fish and prawnspecies have vanished from thecity’s coast, the quantity ofcatch has dropped precipi-tously and whatever is left inthe sea is highly toxic.
Catch has dropped to 14 percent of what it used to be fiveyears ago. Particularly badlyhit are the northern outskirtsof Mumbai, where most of theindustrial units have now shift-ed from city fringes.
Plastic is also causing havocin the creeks; fishermen nowfind fish chocked in it even inthe nets. The destruction ofmangroves is another majorreasonforcatchdropping.“Thisusedtobeanestingsiteof manyvarieties, including prawns, lob-sters and crabs. For the pastfour years, we have not spotteda single sand lobster,” saidSushant Chakraborty, head ofthe Central Institute ofFisheries Education in Versova.
With pollution systemicallyreducing catch, fisherfolkbegan introducing desperatemeasures, like bottom-trawl-ing and using smaller nets,which further damaged theirown cause.
Bottom-trawling meanscombing the seabed to max-imise catch, which uproots anddestroys the flora and fauna onthe floor of the sea — thebreeding ground and source offood for fish. “It is like cuttingthe forest to hunt for deer,”
Chakraborty said.Catching females with eggs,
once avoided by the fishermenthemselves, is no longer ataboo. A recent study done byFishery Survey of India esti-mated that 42 tonnes of eggwere destroyed off Mumbaicoast in one month.“Considering that each eggweighs 0.5 gm, one can imag-ine how much fish potentialwas destroyed,” saidChakraborty.
India’s coastline includespart of the most heavily pol-luted oceans in the world: about
70 per cent of the world’s oiltrade goes through the IndianOcean, claimed Baban Ingole,a biological oceanographyexpert at the National Instituteof Oceanography in Goa.
“We desperately need a prop-er treatment facility for indus-trial discharges for all unitsacross the state, all of whichdischarge their waste in thesea, particularly in the creeksof Vashi, Vasai, Raigad andDahanu,” said Veerendra VeerSingh, principal scientist andan expert on the effect of pol-lution on marine ecosystems
at Central Marine FisheriesResearch Institute.
A yet unpublished study bythe National EnvironmentEngineering ResearchInstitute and the CentralMarine Fisheries ResearchInstitute showed that
the telapia fish was 44 percent more toxic than the levelsafe for human consumption;sardines and Bombay Duckscaught off the Vashi andRaigad coasts had toxic leadlevels; the sea water off Bandrahad ammonical nitrogenbeyond the safe value, even atfive kilometers into the sea.
To protest against pollutionand the absence of any gov-ernment initiative to bolsterfishing, over 100,000 fishermenwill launch a statewide protestin March this year, said G.K.Bhanji, chairman, NationalAssociation of Fishermen’sand president, MaharashtraKoli Samaj.
As pollution and environmental degradation drivefish way from the city’s coast, the kolis, Mumbai’soriginal inhabitants, struggle to survive
Toxic seas,empty nets
Fish swim away from polluted city waters
❚ Industrialeffluents
❚ Oil drilling at113 locations
❚ Destruction ofmangroves
❚ Excess fishing,
including catch-ing young fishand femalescarrying eggs
❚ Bottom-trawling,which destroysthe sea bed
❚ Security alerts
TROUBLED WATERSReasons why fish are deserting
the Mumbai coast
While supply has fallen, economic growth and a rise in population have boosted the demand for fish, forcing fishermen to go deeper into the sea and spend longer hours at work.
HT PHOTOS: SOUMITRA GHOSH
Desperate fishermen are tightening the weave of their nets in the hopes of catching more fish.
Indira and Moreshwar Londhe, kolis who have abandonedfishing for more lucrative employment.
This used to be a nestingsite of many varieties,
including prawns, lobsters andcrabs. In four years, we have notspotted a single sand lobster.It is like cutting theforest to hunt for deer.—SUSHANT CHAKRABORTY,head of the Central Institute of FisheriesEducation in Versova