The Hindu Business Line : There’s no catch here!

April is a cruel, if not the cruellest, month for the fishermen of Dhamra (locally called Dhamara), a fishing hamlet on the Dhamra river, off Orissa coast. The place has been in news in recent times thanks to a large port project being implemented there jointly by Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro.

From November to April every year, there is restriction on fishing in the nearby marine sanctuary to enable endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles to have peaceful nesting and breeding. Again, from April to June, the local fishermen as well as fishermen all along the coast observe a self-imposed ban, to help preserve and enhance marine life.

Little wonder then that in April the Dhamra fishing jetty, which is more than 30 years old, wears a deserted look, with trawlers of all sizes and shapes idling. The fishing nets are mended and dried, and the vessels repaired and repainted during this period. The air is free from heavy smell of raw fish that hangs over the place at other times of the year.

Plenty of fish

Nearly 800 vessels and an estimated 20,000 people in and around Dhamra depend on fishing for their livelihood. “There is no dearth of fish in the waters and the record will show that on a single day a big trawler had a catch worth about Rs 35 lakh, all due to the blessings of Ma Dhamarai, the reigning deity of the area,” says P.K. Jena, the general secretary of the area’s Ma Dhamarai Fishermen’s Association.

Although the waters leading to the sea are home to a large variety of fish species, the fishermen generally concentrate only on a limited few. “Our regular catch includes about four varieties of pomfrets and six varieties of prawns,” he says. “We supply to exporters as well as wholesalers, mostly Kolkata-based, as we’ve longstanding business arrangement with them.”

Asked how the fisherfolk manage during the ban period, Jena replies, “They depend on whatever little money they are left with; worse, they would often go hungry. We’ve no other option but to surrender totally before Ma Dhamarai for survival.”

This year, the Goddess appears to have been kinder. Many of the fishermen who would otherwise have remained idle this time of the year are now campaigning for different political parties for the elections.

Closed routes

But even when fishing is on, there is the problem of demand-supply mismatch. The number of fishermen is increasing every year (“what else can the young men here do; after all, fishing runs in their families”) but the opportunities for fishing are shrinking.

“The Bay of Bengal is a few kilometres away and, traditionally, there were three routes to the sea, two of which have since been permanently closed — the Gahirmatha route for the protection of sea turtles and the Wheeler Island route for defence purposes. The third route through the Dhamra river channel is still open but we are keeping our fingers crossed. The dredging for the port project has started in the channel, so far benefiting the fishermen as the movement of our vessels has become easier, and we sincerely want this to continue even after the commissioning of the project,” says Jena.

The fishermen have been told that the State Government has demarcated certain areas as non-fishing zones; but in the absence of clear guidelines the fishermen are often hauled up for trespassing, leading to arrests and seizure of vessels. “There are several cases pending before the local court,” says Jena, adding that they have repeatedly appealed to the Government for clarity but with little success so far.

Security concerns

Yet another problem confronts them when they venture into the sea beyond the protected zone, as their trawlers are ill-equipped for the high seas. “We risk our lives but we’ve no choice,” says a fisherman.

The worldwide campaign by environmentalists for the protection of endangered Olive Ridley turtles is attracting a large number of visitors to Dhamra. “We do not know their identity or motive and are therefore a bit apprehensive, more so because the area is also critically important from the defence point of view,” says Jena. The fisherfolk want the Government to strengthen monitoring and surveillance in the area. There is frequent poaching by foreign trawlers, which are well-equipped, but the law-keepers tend to look the other way “presumably because these trawlers are better equipped and armed”, say the locals.

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