Nafso-Convenersdiary
WODEP
Pubication
Youth Movement
සුබ නව වසරක් වේවා 2021...Whish Your Happy New Year - 2021
Let us Proudly Commemorate International Year of Small Scale Fisheries & Aquiculture - 2022
Maharashtra: Pollution, climate change driving bombil & pomfret away from city coast
"Did you get any rani fish?" Celine D'Souza, 37 asked for her favourite from across the relatively quiet Goregaon fish market on Thursday morning. "Like a stuck record, every time you come, you ask the same. Why don't you buy surmai, pomfret, halwa instead?" asks her regular fish-monger Vishaka Bhoir, 49 stubbing off a bidi. "I'll give you a price you can't say no to," she lures. Celine's clearly not amused. She ignores her calls and heads to a stall across selling shark and tuna. Checking for freshness under the gills she picks up a shark, gently presses it and stares it hard in the eye. "My children and husband make such a fuss since I buy sardines, shark or tuna all the time. Pomfret, halwa and or surmai is beyond our means given the exorbitant prices."
Prices weigh heavy on the mind of Santosh Singh the manager (operations) of Gajalee too. He admits speciality sea-food outlets like his face the worst brunt of vanishing varieties like pomfret and Bombay duck. "More than 50% of our orders are about some or the other item made with these two. With them getting difficult to come by prices have gone through the roof. We can only pass on some of it to our customers, unlike other places like Delhi and Bangalore, the customers in Mumbai are sensitive to prices. In the process of striking a balance between trying to keep our nose above water and not losing volume of business we have to do a really tight rope-walk," he told DNA.
Admitting how procuring produce has become a tough task. "Earlier we'd get our fish from just one landing site. Now we have to go to several every morning. Its literally a fight between sea-food outlets who are all looking for bulk quantities of the same high-end popular varieties like surmai, pomfret, Bombay duck and crabs." He wonders where the fish have all disappeared. It's a question that plagues many like Palghar resident fisherman Bharat Tandel, 42 too. "We go far into the sea(SEE MAP), yet often don't get sizeable catch. If we don't make enough after paying for diesel and khalasis, what's the point?"
He remembers narrowly missing being captured by Pakistani coastguard last month. "Our GPS broke down. Coming back with nothing wouldn't do. Since we started getting good-sized mackerel we kept going ahead." Luckily for Tandel and eight others on board, there was still sufficient day light to see the Pak coast guard boat moving in on them and they weren't too far from where Indian waters begin. A quick dash back saved them in the nick of time. "We would've been in prison for God knows how long," he says folding his hands in prayer.
As they sit repairing nets, others like Samuel Patil, 28, visiting from the neighbouring Satpati village wonders why repeated representations from fishermen asking the government to declare a fish famine have fallen on deaf ears. "If they officially declare it we can ask them to write off loans taken for boats by fishermen like me, at least." A suggestion the cash-strapped government seems loathe to listen. It simply waves the rule book. Maharashtra fisheries minister Madhukar Chavan told DNA, "Like I said in the assembly, a famine can only be declared if the current yield is less than 50% of the past five years' average." He admits being aware of the sharp drops in both the kind and quality of catch. "We're in touch with fishermen's co-operatives and fisheries experts on how there isn't enough high-yield varieties like pomfret and Bombay duck, always plentiful off the Maharashtra coast."
Echoing Chavan, principal scientist at Mumbai's Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Dr Vinay Deshmukh informed DNA how the silver pomfret production of 24,000 tonnes/year in the 1980s has fallen to less than 3,000 tonnes/year. Bombay duck too, which saw a production of 76,000 tonnes/year two decades ago has fallen to almost 15,000 tonnes/year.
According to him, pollution ("Mumbai releases 300 MLD of untreated sewage into the the sea daily"), habitat degradation and climate change ("As the sea's warming up sardines and mackerel are moving north. While they have all but vanished from the South Western coast, they are now being found in abundance even off the Gujarat coast where they wouldn't earlier.") have played havoc with sea-food production.
"But what compounds this problem several times over is rampant over-fishing. Our coasts have a natural capacity to produce 5.2 lakh tonnes of fish annually but we are going on over-exploiting." He should know what he's saying considering CMFRI has data from not only the 189 landing sites in the state but the 8,214 fishing villages across the country for over six decades. In fact he wonders why there are over 5,700 trawlers off the Maharashtra coasts when it is equipped to handle only 2,700! "These boats literally scrape the ocean floor. This means total destruction of habitat on one hand and catching young ones means there simply aren't enough to breed and replenish stocks," Deshmukh points out and adds, "What's worse they want to fish almost right through the year."
Deshmukh's views are in keeping with a 2006 warning by World Fisheries Centre, Kuala Lumpur. "If we continue exploiting the sea at current rates, we will just not have any fish left at all by 2046!" Fishermen like Ramdas Sandhe from the Akhil Maharashtra Machhimar Kruti Samiti of course feel differently. "A fisherman invests Rs 40 lakh to buy a trawler and average daily running costs come to Rs 20,000 a day. Which fisherman in his right mind wouldn't try to make up for those expenses?" he asks.
A senior bureaucrat in the state fisheries department says large-scale corruption is a major factor responsible for the gulf in the positions taken by Sandhe and Deshmukh. He alleges the National Cooperatives Development Corporation (NCDC) officers inflate loan demands by fisherfolk and pocket the difference. "Once catch falls to a big low like in 2004, decibel levels of protests rise. Conveniently ahead of polls, the government writes off loans," explains the bureaucrat who adds, "Obviously the number of trawlers keeps increasing. Despite disastrous effects on marine ecology and yield, the state fisheries commissionerate keeps gloating about growth citing number of trawler licences issued." Sandhe on his part trounces such allegations pointing out how the state often ends up allowing NCDC funds to lapse and returns large chunks of it. Given the dynamics at work, sustainability seems a far cry for fishing which seems stuck deep in troubled waters. Celine may have a really long wait ahead for that flash of golden pink at her fishmonger's stall.
©2013 Diligent Media Corporation Ltd.
NAFSO-NETWORK
DIFSO-AMPARA DIFSO-BATTICALOA DIFSO-MANNARDIFSO-TRINCOMALEE DIFSO-MULLAITIVU PSS-KURUNEGALA MO-POLONNARUWA SFO-GALLE DIFSO-PUTTLAM PSDF-KARU-WEWA UWWO-MONARAGALA SFO-MATARA DIFSO-KALUTARA NLFPO-NEGOMBO SVFWO-GAMPAHA DIFSO-JAFFNA
ABOUT NAFSO
NAFSO (National Fisheries Solidarity Movement), organizes fishermen to lobby the government to defend their rights and to bring about good environmental practice in coastal areas. ...NAFSO has helped a fishing community to take legal action against a proposal to build a five-star hotel on a mangrove where fish spawn."We are not against hotels, because they bring tourism and income. But 3,000 families and 15,000 fishermen use this lagoon and all of them could be affected by the developments. Only 200 would be employed by the hotel. The lagoon is our mother, and we must protect her." Jude Preman Fernando, local fisherman. At the present situation we are continuing our campaign with small scale fishermen to urge the government to take legal action against Destructive Fishing Practices around the coastal areas of Sri Lanka. View my complete profile
Working Area of NAFSO
Information to Internal Displaced People – Jaffna in Sri Lanka
World Forum of Fisher People's YOUTHS UNITE
පුදැදුරෙකුගේ විමුක්තියේ හඩ
WEBINAR,Globel Agriculture in Crisis
Blogger Seen
Blog Archive January 2021 (12) December 2020 (23) November 2020 (56) October 2020 (27) September 2020 (14) August 2020 (6) July 2020 (80) June 2020 (16) May 2020 (15) April 2020 (14) March 2020 (5) February 2020 (4) January 2020 (14) December 2019 (11) November 2019 (19) October 2019 (14) September 2019 (21) August 2019 (14) July 2019 (26) June 2019 (25) May 2019 (42) April 2019 (10) March 2019 (6) February 2019 (16) January 2019 (26) December 2018 (10) November 2018 (13) October 2018 (17) September 2018 (16) August 2018 (13) July 2018 (17) June 2018 (15) May 2018 (15) April 2018 (10) March 2018 (5) February 2018 (14) January 2018 (5) December 2017 (3) November 2017 (9) October 2017 (9) September 2017 (4) August 2017 (6) July 2017 (6) June 2017 (2) May 2017 (4) April 2017 (1) March 2017 (5) February 2017 (4) January 2017 (2) November 2016 (2) October 2016 (9) September 2016 (5) August 2016 (2) July 2016 (8) June 2016 (9) May 2016 (7) April 2016 (8) March 2016 (15) February 2016 (16) January 2016 (7) December 2015 (9) November 2015 (9) October 2015 (9) September 2015 (13) August 2015 (4) July 2015 (17) June 2015 (7) May 2015 (7) April 2015 (4) March 2015 (16) February 2015 (4) January 2015 (8) December 2014 (16) November 2014 (12) October 2014 (12) September 2014 (5) August 2014 (7) July 2014 (8) June 2014 (9) May 2014 (5) March 2014 (23) February 2014 (15) January 2014 (11) December 2013 (11) November 2013 (9) October 2013 (14) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (7) July 2013 (4) June 2013 (13) May 2013 (10) April 2013 (10) March 2013 (5) February 2013 (22) January 2013 (6) December 2012 (9) November 2012 (14) October 2012 (17) September 2012 (4) August 2012 (3) July 2012 (5) June 2012 (9) May 2012 (4) April 2012 (4) March 2012 (24) February 2012 (6) January 2012 (10) December 2011 (2) November 2011 (3) October 2011 (5) September 2011 (2) August 2011 (7) July 2011 (1) June 2011 (3) May 2011 (2) March 2011 (3) February 2011 (3) January 2011 (4) December 2010 (1) November 2010 (8) October 2010 (1) September 2010 (2) August 2010 (1) July 2010 (1) June 2010 (4) May 2010 (4) April 2010 (5) March 2010 (8) February 2010 (1) January 2010 (1) December 2009 (6) November 2009 (10) October 2009 (24) September 2009 (3) August 2009 (4) July 2009 (2) June 2009 (1) May 2009 (1) April 2009 (3) March 2009 (5) February 2009 (4) January 2009 (2) December 2008 (8) November 2008 (2) October 2008 (3) September 2008 (3) August 2008 (1) July 2008 (4) June 2008 (8) May 2008 (2) April 2008 (2) March 2008 (5) February 2008 (6) January 2008 (5) June 2006 (4) May 2006 (7) April 2006 (5) March 2006 (5) February 2006 (3) January 2006 (6) December 2005 (9) November 2005 (7) October 2005 (1) August 2005 (4) July 2005 (14) June 2005 (6) May 2005 (6) April 2005 (7) March 2005 (15)
NAFSO: No. 10
Malwatta Road, Negombo, Sri Lanka
E-mail: nafso@gmail.com
Facebook: NAFSO Sri Lanka
Twitter: NAFSO-Sri Lanka
NAFSO Profile
NAFSO
Negombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka
මට කොරෝනා නෑ ඔයාලා සෞඛ්‍යාරක්‍ෂිතව මාව අනුභව කරන්න