Vulnerabilities of Fishing Communities to Ecological
and Climate Changes
A pilot study in Dharavi Bet in Mumbai
Institute for Community Organization Research
Dharavi Bet Background
Dharavi Bet has 10 villages
Total population 1.5 lakh (70% fishers of which 70% artisanal & small scale)
Many had small farms but sold; today, most depend exclusively on fishing, some
practice secondary farming.
3 villages studied: Manori, Gorai and Uttan (including Pali, Uttan Chowk &
Pathan Bunder)
Manori (population 8,000), Gorai (6,800), Uttan (30,000)
1/3rd of the area wetland, creeks, mangroves, saltpans
Mainly they fished in coastal waters and creeks in the offseason.
All these resources provided assured food and livelihood till about 15-20 years
ago. But things have been changing.
Decline or stagnation in fish catch in Maharashtra
Decline in fish production since 2003
Production peaked at about 4.5 lakh tonnes in 2002, dropped to 3.16
lakh tonnes in 2009, and to 2.25 lakh tonnes in 2010.
Pomfret catch: 1986 – around 15,000 tonnes
2009 – around 4,800 tonnes
Bombay Duck : 1990 – around 40,000 tonnes
(Bombil)
2009 – aound 20,000 tonnes
What is more important, catch of high-value fish has
drastically declined.
Overall, share of high-value fish catch (excluding pomfrets,
prawns and lobsters) in the total catch dropped from 8.4% in
1996-1997 to 0.8% in 08-09.
Has production crossed the sustainable levels?
Reasons for the decline
Overfishing : Too many boats, and intense fishing, since the early 90s. Heavy
competition for fish. Even juvenile fish are relentlessly caught, affects
spawning
Chemical pollution of the coastal waters and creeks -- untreated sewage (
reduces oxygen in the water), industrial wastes, plastic wastes and oil spills.
Environmental and ecological degradation : Destruction/degradation of
mangroves and wetlands ( fish nurseries) Polluted creeks, poor water quality,
environmentally stressed
Climate Change :
Uttan/Manori /Gorai fish catch trend
( 5-year averages since 1994 – 95)
94 – 95 to 98- 99
Uttan
99-00 to 03-04
04 – 05 to 08 – 09
20, 000 tonnes
15, 500
19,300
Manori/
18,400 tonnes
plus Gorai
10,575
13,354
(Source : Dept of Fisheries, Maharashtra )
Hardly any fish in the coastal waters
Drop in high value fish catch such as silver pomfrets, big prawns, rawas ( Indian
salmon), lobsters, croackers group, etc.
Even smaller but popular fish such as Bombay duck and mandeli are getting less
and available farther away or deeper in the sea.
So greater efforts, more time and higher costs in fishing. Not much fish in the
creeks so off-season fishing and income affected.
Fishers with big boats, better nets and longer staying power in the sea continue to
do well, but artisanal and small scale fishers are affected.
Higher market prices for fish has helped to some extent, but many report reduced
income, particularly in a bad season.
Climate change and its effects
•
Rising land temperature
Annual av. Temp. in Mumbai rose by 0.6 degree C over the last century.
Annual average maximum temp in Mumbai rose by 1.62⁰C from 1901 to 2007.
• Post-monsoon 1.07 and 2.46 / Winter 0.95/2.45
summer 0.42/1.11
•
Changing rainfall pattern. More short spells of intense rains.
•
Rising sea surface temperature.
In 2000, sea temp in the Arabian Sea ranged from 29.2⁰C in the Lakshadweep
region (closer to the equator) to 27⁰C in the Gulf of Kutch region in the north.
Warming expected to increase by about 3⁰C – 3.5 ⁰C during this century from
2000 to 2099. Coastal waters around Mumbai now warming at about 0.3
degree C per decade.
•
Sea level rise because of higher SST. Sea level around Mumbai rising at 1.2 mm
per year
All these changes will affect farming and fishery, particularly of artisanal and
small-scale fishers.
Impact on Fishery
• Changes on sea conditions make fishing more difficult and hazardous --more intense rains, storms, stronger thunderstorms and lightning.
• Disturbances at sea, greater turbidity, changing currents and wind
patterns make it difficult to locate fish in the sea ( fishermen now find it
difficult to locate pomfret and mackerel)
• Rising SST affects fish breeding and growth cycles, and fish survival rates of
surface -dwelling fish, reducing overall fish production.
• Migration and shift in fish habitat northwards or deeper into the sea.
changes in fish distribution and relative abundance. Some varieties may “
commercially disappear”. And it will become difficult for artisanal fishers
to catch some varieties with their current fishing nets and practices.
• Rising temperature and acidification (due to higher carbon dioxide
concentrations) of the water drive away some small fish, particularly shell
fish, from coastal waters.
• Higher temperatures and higher salinity (because of higher evaporation
and less fresh water flow into the sea) can enhance the toxicity of some
pollutants and affect fish productivity.
Artisanal and SS fishers will be further marginalised
• Uncertainty in locating fish and fish migration will cause more problems
for them.
• If surface-dwelling fish of commercial value such as mackerel and seer
fish, and small fish such as mandeli and bhiljee (white sardine) in
Mumbai’s coast migrate into deeper waters, artisanal fishers may not be
able to catch them with their current fishing practices.
• Fish migration and changes in the composition and relative availability of
fish varieties (increase or decrease in fish stocks) will require changes in
fishing methods ( boats, nets, fish-locators etc) which artisanal fishers
cannot afford. Lack of capital for more investment in fishing.
(Source and copyright : Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi)
Projected area of inundation of Juhu fishing village, Mumbai for 3
sea level scenarios; blue colour indicates 0.3 m, blue+yellow 0.6
m, blue+yellow+red 1.0 m rise in sea level
(Source : DARE/ICAR Annual Report 2009 – 2010)
Socio-economic impacts
• Reduction in fish catch and income for SS fishermen
• Combined with the steep rise in food prices, this affects food consumption
in vulnerable groups in some villages, particularly when there is low or no
catch
• They sell high value fish in the market and buy low-value fish or low-value
meat, or eat more dry fish.
• Increased cost of fishing (fuel, ice, etc) also eroding income.
• Increased stress on women. Some of the women work as housemaids to
bolster family income
• Falling income affects education and social activities. Girls are the first one
to be taken out of school in bad times. They are also sent out on farm work
or construction work.
Uncertain future and lack of alternatives
• Youth comprise about 40 % of the fishing workforce in the three villages.
• Many see their work as arduous and increasingly risky, and the future as
“uncertain”. Traditional fishers now think they cannot “depend on fishing
alone” for livelihood.
• Low educational levels, lack of special skills, particularly lack of
communication skills in English, limit alternative job options. In Uttan,
graduates continue with fishing rather than commuting to the city for
low-paying jobs. Manori, which is closer to the city, has higher
educational levels, and many are moving to service jobs.
• New SEZ and CRZ plans in the area causes greater uncertainty
• Uncertainty about the future and limited livelihood options will soon
“force occupational changes”, say some fishers.
Health Impacts
• Increasing heat stress among women because of long hours of outdoor
work --- marketing, drying fish, etc.
• Dehydration, kidney and urinary tract problems increasing.
• Malaria cases increasing
• Backaches and joint pains common among men and women.
Coping/ Adaptation
• Different classes adapt different methods.
• The poor sell high-value fish and buy low-value fish from the market (sort
of market-mediated adaptation)
• Families grow vegetables such as pumpkins and gourds in the homestead
to cut cost on food.
• Cut spending on “social activities”
• In some villages, such as Uttan, women process fish into pickles and other
products as a community activity to generate additional income
• The poor say lack of finance limits their adaptability to the changing
situation in terms of adapting new fishing practices and fishing gear.
• The well-to-do are using better boats (mechanised, more capacity, lighter,
GPS, fish-finders, etc) and better nets (eg. Uttan)
• Coping with SLR -- conserve mangroves, build stone walls (Gorai)
Long- term policy measures
•
Conflicts in resource use – in the sea and on coastal land.
•
Conflicts in current policies. Need for new policies.
•
Need for conservation of resources and protection of small fishers.
•
Zoning, and regulation of fishing periods and the number boats
•
Develop “common resources” approach and technologies that promote this
approach
•
For artisanal fishers, identify, diversify and strengthen traditional fishing
methods where applicable.
•
Develop deep-sea fishing technologies
•
Check pollution of the coastal waters and improve coastal ecology
MEASURES TO PROTECT FISHERY AND LIVELIHOOD
•
Policy measures to increase fish production and exports have led to
intensive and indiscriminate fishing and overexploitation of coastal
fisheries resources, undermined sustainability of these resources
and marginalized artisanal and small-scale fishers over the past few
decades. Chemical pollution of the coastal waters near industrial
cities such as Mumbai has also contributed to driving away fish
from the traditional resource base of marginal and small fishers.
Climate change now further threatens their ecological systems,
fisheries resources and livelihood.
•
To promote sustainability, first, strict measures to stop
indiscriminate and excessive fishing. Too many big boats and
trawlers with small-meshed nets. So mesh sizes and the number of
big boats need to be regulated. Trawlers should be restricted from
fishing in the near-shore waters where artisanal and small-scale
fishers had enjoyed customary rights over the resources. Trawlers
also destroy local marine ecosystems. So fishing zones for small
fishers, and trawlers and other big mechanized boats should be
clearly defined and enforced.
• (Eg., Maharashtra now has about 4,200 trawlers while only
2,000 could be sustained. And though existing legal frame
prohibits use of small mesh size for the nets and fishing by
mechanized boats close to the sea in waters less than 10 m,
implementation by policing is nearly impossible. If the entire
community in the district or the state adopts it as self-imposed
measure then perceptible increase in fish abundance can be
expected.)
• Fishing seasons need to be restricted to avoid fishing in fishspawning and breeding seasons. One suggestion is that the
current ban on fishing for two months (from mid-June to midAugust in Maharashtra) should be extended to at least three
months for five years so that fish stocks could get replenished.
Poor fishers should be given subsidies for loss of income during
this period.
•Improve the coastal environment. Stop polluting coastal waters
and the creeks, and clean up the creeks to provide a healthy
habitat for fish, mangroves and other plant life. The city’s sewage
and industrial wastes should be treated before pumping them
into the sea, and coastal waters need to be regularly monitored
for pollution.
• Strong measures should be taken to protect mangroves and
wetlands (breeding grounds for fish). Mangroves also need to be
developed as natural shields against flooding and storms to
reduce the impact of climate change.
• Climate change is a larger problem and needs to be countered
at several levels – local, regional, national and international
through various measures and forums. Fishery in general does
not contribute much to global warming. However, at the local
level, measures such as increasing the green cover, growing trees
along the coastline, maintaining wetlands and expanding local
bio-diversity can help as mitigating and adaptive measures.
• Marginal and small-scale fishers are generally the victims
of ecological degradation and climate change. But their
voices are not heard much at national and global climate
talks and policy-making bodies. So we need stronger forums
to carry their views to policy-framing bodies.
• Changes in the marine environment and shifts in fish
habitats and fish distribution patterns require adaptation,
diversification and the upgrading of fishing gear, craft and
capacity to suit the changes. Poor fishers’ capacity to do so
is limited, and they need help in capacity-building. In the
absence of this, they will lose out, even where the changes
may be potentially beneficial.
•Traditional fishing practices, suited to the changing local
conditions, need to be identified and improved if necessary.
This will help artisanal fishers.
• Management
of coastal fisheries for sustainability and
equity is important. A community-based approach to
resource management, built on the awareness of the longterm implications of the current unsustainable and
destructive fishing practices, will promote equitable sharing
of resources and responsibility. New techniques of
community-based fish-breeding and harvesting should also
be developed to help small-scale fishers. All this will need
close collaboration between fisheries scientists and fishing
communities.
• The likelihood of coastal erosion and flooding demands
judicious use of coastal land, particularly in vulnerable
areas. Faulty land use and local environmental degradation
often enhance the impact of climate change and natural
disasters. Giving land rights to fishers and creating
awareness of such issues would motivate them to improve
their environment. Other precautionary measures include
early warning of storms and cyclones at sea and cyclone
shelters on land.
To enhance fishing communities’ income, fishery-related
and other economic activities, collective as well as
individual, should be developed and supported – e.g.,
processing fish into various value-added products, poultry
and animal husbandry, and making candles, garments and
other such products.
•
• Fishing communities also need good facilities for storing,
drying and processing fish, particularly in view of rising
temperatures and erratic rainfall. Better public healthcare
facilities are another requirement since illnesses affect
fishers’ physical capacity to work and strain their limited
financial resources
• In the long run, dependency on fishery as the sole source
of livelihood needs to be reduced and occupational mobility
encouraged -- provision of better educational and
alternative job opportunities (eg., youth in Mumbai city). In
Dharavi Bet, except in Manori to some extent, dependency
on fishery is increasing.