Chennai's inland fishing decimated by pollution, encroachments, and river neglect

Encroachments, pollution and lack of desilting have killed Chennai's once-thriving inland fishing tradition, forcing families who caught freshwater varieties in the Adyar and Cooum to either register as sea-faring fishermen or wait for monsoon rains.

Until the 1980s, Madras residents routinely bought madava, keluthi, ooda, era and nandu, freshwater fish hauled from the city's rivers and estuaries, as vendors walked through Pattinampakkam, Adyar, Kotturpuram and Saidapet calling "meen, ma, meen" to households. Small nets and wooden catamarans were enough to bring in a catch from the pristine waters and nutrient-rich slush near river mouths, according to Krishnamohan, a former Fisheries Department staffer.

Rivers turned into sewage carriers

"We had very vibrant inland fishermen cooperative societies. But encroachments, pollution, and lack of desilting of rivers have led to them becoming mere sewage carriers and garbage bins," Krishnamohan said. Even the insects that once bred in the slush and served as fish feed have disappeared.

The handful of inland fishermen still working have registered as sea-faring fishermen and fish the Adyar only during the Northeast monsoon, sometimes casting lines from the Adyar and Kotturpuram bridges, said M.D. Dayalan, a fishing community leader. Inland fish sold in the city now come from reservoirs and lakes around Chennai.

Sea catch now dominates the market

Marine fish have filled the gap left by the collapse of river fishing. Greater Chennai Corporation's coastline, from Ennore in ward 1 to Nainarkuppam in ward 200, hosts over ten fishing hamlets that landed 52,134 tonnes in 2022, 23. Kasimedu Fishing Harbour in Royapuram alone shelters around 900 mechanised boats and hundreds of smaller vessels.

Wooden catamarans gave way to sturdier craft after ropes would come undone at sea, losing fish and nets, explained M.E. Raghupathi, another fishing community leader. The first fiberglass reinforced plastic boat arrived in 1990 with government subsidies; today FRP boats stretch 65 feet, carry double engines and stay at sea for a week.

"Treated as second-class citizens"

Fishing hamlets along the coast say the government overlooks their needs. "We don't get good rates for our catch. The harbour is dirty, has no toilets even. We are being driven out of our homes in the name of development," said Jones Spartegus, a Thoothukudi-based research scholar, pointing to Marina and Loop Road redevelopment. He argued fishermen need subsidies for boats, nets and engines, and space to dry fish, mend nets and build homes as populations grow.

The species profile has shifted, too. A 2010 survey by J.D. Marcus Knight and K. Rema Devi found eight of the 66 species recorded by the Madras Fisheries Bureau in 1916 were missing, while 17 new species, including tilapia, basa catfish, African catfish and pacu, had appeared, some introduced via the Telugu Ganga Project, according to IT employee and fish enthusiast Beta Mahatvaraj.

Source: The Hindu