As a child, I always thought that the fish I ate came from the ocean. Although that was true to an extent, it has changed a lot over the years. Global marine fish population have substantially declined due to various reasons over the years; climate change resulting in ocean acidification, marine pollution contributing to habitats loss, overfishing, etc. But I really wanted to know how was the effect of declining fish population was felt by fisherfolk themselves.
Worli Tip in Mumbai - Where the Coli Community live
I visited the Coli community, which is a coastal fisherfolk community in Mumbai. I wanted to understand the challenges faced by the community and how they were overcoming these challenges. Many fisherfolk have started shifting to other livelihoods for their major source of income to due how unstable marine fisheries have become. Many have moved into construction as daily wagers, driving autos/cabs and selling trinkets in local markets for a more stable income. According to the Coli community, marine fish population have become extremely erratic and fishermen now have to venture out deeper into the ocean to catch fish. As most fisherfolk have very rudimentary boats, this has become extremely risky for them as adverse weather conditions could directly affect their safety. The seasonal fishing ban imposed by the government also severely affects their livelihoods. For those readers who don't know, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries) bans fishing from the months of April-June (typically 2 months) every year to regulate fish population during crucial breeding seasons. This is extremely pivotal to sustenance and conservation various fish species across India.
Fisherfolk were catching small fish near the jetty for their families for dinner. Due to the fishing ban that was still ongoing in the month of June, they couldn't venture out into the ocean in their boats.
How has marine fisheries changed in India?
According to the 'Handbook on Fisheries Statistics' submitted by the Department of Fisheries (2020), 14.6 MMT of fish was produced in India (2019-20), out of which only 3.72 MMT was from marine fisheries and a whopping 10.43 MMT was produced through inland fisheries. Given that the length of the Indian coastline is more than 8000 Kms, and keeping in mind how vast the Indian Ocean is, I assumed that marine fisheries would contribute to the majority of the pie. However, I was wrong.
In India, Gujarat has the highest marine fish production which attributes to 7.01 Lakh Tonnes in 2019-20, while Andra Pradesh has the highest inland fish production, almost 5 times more than Gujarat, almost 36.1 Lakh Tonnes.
What is Andra Pradesh doing with its fish?
Fish doesn't just mean fish. There are a lot of categories in fish like squid, octopus, crustaceans etc. But when you study this in more detail, it actually comes down to prawns. Although we export a lot of fish in India, the export value is primarily driven by prawns. This was an interesting insight for me, as I did not not know how lucrative prawn cultivation had become in India.
To understand this in context to Andra Pradesh, I headed down to East Godavari, which is where majority of the inland fisheries are present within the state. I wanted to know more about why majority of the India's fish was produced East Godavari.
Why East Godavari?
Before we understand East Godavari, we need to know what are the conditions that are required for prawns to grow. Prawns have very specific water requirements, some require freshwater, while most require brackish water. Brackish water is fresh water which has a higher salinity, but is not as saline as sea water. Also, you need to have a lot of access to this kind of water, as aquaculture ponds need to change their water quite regularly during different phases of prawn cultivation. There are a lot of other prerequisites but these are the most important ones.
Aerial view of Godavari
The Godavari is the second largest river in India after the Ganga. It covers about 10% of India's total geographic area.
"The East Godavari district is enriched by huge water resources of River Godavari and major streams like Yeleru, Suddagedda, Pampa and Thandava etc. The delta coastal line is around 150Kms in the eastern sea board of India with minor ports at Kakinada and Odalarevu." (Govt of Andra Pradesh)
If you can see this picture, you can see quite a few estuaries present. This is the case throughout the district. These estuaries are the best for cultivation of prawns. Therefore, most aquaculture ponds are set up right beside the river for easy access to freshwater or brackish water.
Aquaculture pond beside the Godavari river
When I reached East Godavari I was able to notice a huge shift. The paddy to prawn conversion was happening quite rapidly. Farmers were able to make more money selling prawns then any other plant produce. Also, as the government of Andra Pradesh was providing fisherfolk with a lot of subsidies, that was an added incentive for farmers to make the shift faster.
One thing I learnt was that once a land is used for aquaculture, it becomes difficult to use the same land for paddy cultivation as the properties of the soil are changed permanently. Changing land to aquaculture ponds which is an artifical modification directly affects the natural ecosystem and the species depending on this system. For example, increasing salinity of groundwater has been observed throughout the East Godavari region. As some fisherfolk live closer to the ocean, the salinity of the river water is more than what is should be. In such cases, groundwater is pumped in order to balance the pH of the water for prawn cultivation. As huge amounts of water is pumped, the groundwater table becomes more saline in nature making it undrinkable. Abnormal increase in the pH of drinking water (ranges from 7.50 to 8.40) has been observed. In the above picture, most of the land near the shore the are either partially or fully contaminated. If we were to map that you can see the correlation quite clearly.
Mapping aquaculture ponds across East Godavari
Ground water Contamination
Another interesting observation about the East Godavari was the dense mangrove forests. Mangrove forests are ‘shock absorbers’ and act as the first line of defense as they shield coastal communities from natural calamities. Mangroves protect both freshwater and saltwater and help filter nitrates and phosphates from rivers by balancing the pH levels. As I was in East Godavari, I decided to visit Coringa wildlife sanctuary which was home to one of the biggest mangroves forest in India.
Andra Pradesh is home to the 4th biggest mangrove forests in India
Mangroves in Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary
One of the first questions I asked after visiting the mangrove forests in Coringa was if mangroves could fix the problems aquaculture was creating. I did quite a bit of research to see if anything had been done in the same light. This was when I had come across the work of Mangroves for the Future. In 2009, the organisation decided to test a new solution to rehabilitate abandoned shrimp ponds in Mudasalodai, Tamil Nadu through Integrated Mangroves Fisheries Farming System (IMFSS).
How it works?
"Rectangular pond areas previously used for shrimp farming are modified by adding bunds, or embankments, within the ponds on which mangroves and other salt tolerant vegetation are planted. Shrimp, crab, fish and other commercially important aquatic species are farmed in the ponds. The mangroves, also planted inside the ponds, stabilize soils but also provide nutrient inputs and food (such as leaf litter) for the aquaculture systems inside the ponds. Most importantly the ponds are re-engineered to take advantage of the natural tidal flow of coastal waters, thus saving energy inputs by reducing the need to pump water in and out of the ponds. As water naturally flows in and out of the ponds, water quality is maintained and new food is provided for the farmed shrimp and fish. (Mangroves for the future ) "
Mangroves for the future - Integrated Mangroves Fisheries Farming System
Farmers began to earn Rs 4500 more than what they used to through this model. After the pilot study, this model was adopted by several farmers in the neighbouring villages in order to bring back abandoned ponds to life in a more sustainable way. As shown in the above picture, from one piece land, the model was adopted all around shortly after. Although this is a sustainable farming practice, it is quite difficult to implement something like this without the required investment and expertise. Hence, a model like this might be difficult to do on a large scale.
This entire experience was something that pushed me to think. Sometimes we shouldn't stop asking questions. But at the same time,we also need to go a step beyond. Understanding the realities of different communities has helped me view a problem from different perspectives.
References:
1) Fishing ban
4) Mangroves
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