Justice at seaFishers’ politics and marine conservation

in coastal Odisha, India

Vasudha Chhotray, UEADSA Conference, London, 2012

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Fishing jetty

Kharnasi villageMahakalpada blockKendrapara districtOdishaINDIA

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Methodology

Qualitative. Inductive.

10 exploratory interviews around justice in Kharnasi. Four framing questions:- What aspects of resource use do you find just or unjust?- Who/what is responsible for it?- Which institution/set of actors can do something to redress this

situation (if unjust)?- What can you do about it?

5 Focus Group Discussions in Kharnasi: male and female fishers; boat owners; crew members; boatmakers; shopkeepers

35 Key Informant Interviews: Odiya and Bengali fishers in Kharnasi and neighbouring villages, fisher leaders, trade union members, cooperative presidents, environmentalists, fisheries and forest department officials (past and present) active in Kendrapara district and coastal Odisha

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A ‘prelude’ to environmental justice

What comes before equality and fairness?

Legitimacy of presence and acknowledged rights of fishing in this particular sea

Filters for environmental justice : caste, ethnicity, identity, class, territory and citizenship

Odiya environmentalism and eco-nationalism (Sharma, 2012)

Meaning of ‘justice at sea’ for fishers inseparable from such filters

Political struggles for justice removed from everyday material struggles

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Relevant conservation debates

Nation state arch provider of a ‘community for justice’ (Dobson, 1999)

Conservation and rights of citizenship (right to be informed, rights of settlement) (Jayal, 2010)

Local residence and legitimate claims to territory (Baviskar, 2003)

‘Longstanding’ customary association with place/resource use; passage of uncertain length of time as ‘traditional’ (Skaria, 1999; Das, 2011)

Conservation is about how ‘nature ought to look’ (Neumann, 1998)

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Turtle conservation in OdishaOlive Ridleys, Odisha and the global conservation spotlight

Arribadas (arrival) in December-January each year

Alarming turtle mortalities off Odisha coast in the 1970s

Passionate nationwide environmental campaigns, state scientific research and keen personal interest by PM Indira Gandhi

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Principal measures for turtle conservation in Odisha

StateOlive Ridleys declared an ‘endangered species’ in Schedule I of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

Fishery regulation through OMFRA (Odisha Marine Fisheries Regulation Act), 1982Emphasis on ‘sustainable’ fishing; different zones for different craftsOnly ‘non-mechanised “traditional” boats’ allowed within 5km of shore

Notification of Gahirmatha as a marine sanctuary in 1997, blanket fishing ban

Protection of turtles at two other major nesting sites (Devi and Rushikulya river mouths) through seasonal fishing bans (November-May)

Use of TEDs (turtle excluder devices) mandatory for trawlers

NGOOperation Kachhapa (OpK), a turtle conservation initiative launched in 1989-90 under the aegis of the Wildlife Society of India

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Conflict over marine fishing

Conservationists accuse state for sponsoring ‘overfishing’

Concern over ‘unsustainable rise’ in mechanised fishing: 250% in 25 years (Greenpeace, 2008)

State has not been productivist enough, argue fishers and officials Negative comparisons with Kerala (Sinha, 2012)

No investment in deep sea fishing, EEZ

Excessive exploitation of near shore waters and poor patrols produce turf wars

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The fishing castes and communities of Odisha

Nolias in Gopalpur, Ganjam Odiya fisherman near Paradip, Jagatsinghpur

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Ethnicity and fishing techniquesOdiya woman with mugura (bamboo and stick basket) in Kendrapara district

FRP gill net boats owned by Bengali fishers in Kharnasi jetty

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‘Then gradually these Bangladeshis spread to the entire Odisha coast. The Odiya fishermen would never go to the sea for fishing. They would fish at the river mouth. But after the influx of the Bengali fishermen, they started the motorised boats and after overfishing in the river, they started going to the sea’ (Sankhanad Behera, kaibarta leader, founder of Kalinga Karnadhar Fishing Society and environmentalist).

‘Later on due to the rising population of Bangladeshi immigrants and declining catch in estuaries in the late 1970s, they (Odiyas) could not fish inside the estuarine and riverine areas, so they were kind of forced to go to the sea’ (Biswajit Mohanty, Operation Kachappa).

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Bengali immigration and Odiya environmentalism

No pre-existing ‘commons’ to be defended

Bengali fishers’ right to fish in this particular sea in contention

Struggle over territory linked to painful episodes in history: partition of 1947, creation of Bangladesh in 1971 (Chatterji, 1997)

Territory no mean motivator of national allegiance; ‘eco-nationalism’ and ‘eco-naturalism’ (Sharma, 2012)

Rise of right-wing Odiya environmentalism: territory, nation, legality

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Chief allegationsRuining marine ecosystem, depleting fish stocks, killing turtles

‘Entire fisheries in the state has collapsed because of these Bangladeshis only’

Promoting infringement of Indian sovereignty, territorial waters

Harbour illegal immigrants

Invite relatives from Bangladesh during fishing season

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Dominant narratives within Odiya environmentalism

Crude typology of ‘legitimate’ (from West Bengal in the 1940s) and illegitimate settlers (from former East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, especially after 1971)

No proper settlement for ‘hordes of refugees’ that came to Odisha

Impression of Bengali prosperity at the expense of Odiyas

Partial historiesRefugee journeys into India from Bangladesh a continuous process since 1947

Low caste/class immigrants, history of oppression

Adversely affected by refugee politics, disastrous state policies of rehabilitation

Patchy experiences with settlement; compelling factors

Strong feelings of association with Kharnasi village; distinctive territoriality

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Controversy over infiltration

1998 public law suit, 2005 court directive to ‘identify infiltrators’

2005 episode of identification of 1551 ‘infiltrators’; deportation attempts half-hearted and unsuccessful

Disbelief, anger amongst Bengali settlers (who are Indian citizens)

Mixed reactions amongst Odiya fishers and elites

Crude pro-caste, nation and anti-refugee rhetoric, but no sustained attempt at deportation

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Justice at sea

Sea view from Kharnasi jetty Marine police station, Kharnasi

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Technique, tradition, turf

Who is killing the turtles?

Decimation of 'traditional’ fishing techniques: to be traditional is to be the least culpable

Convoluted hierarchy of blame

Ethnic/caste/class branding of nets and technologies

Gill netting versus trawling

Class differentiation

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Following fishers

Flagrant, unambiguous acknowledgement of transgression

Bengalis-Odiyas commonly aggrieved

Passage to sea

State vested interest in status quo

Marine policing difficult

Power struggles at sea

Corporeal injustice

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Everyday struggles for justice

Sea fishing: risky, lucrative

Weakest links in the chain

Capitalisation and vulnerability

Chains of exploitation, despair

Despair at lack of ‘alternatives’

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Political struggle for justice

Odisha Traditional Fishworkers Union (OTFWU); collective resistance

Negative attention to ethnic origins of leaders

‘This is the irony….it is a traditional association of Odisha but the office bearers are Bengali and Telugu.’ (Biswajit Mohanty, OpK)

Tradition, time and technology

Personal politics

Credibility crisis with poorest fishers of all backgrounds

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Conclusion

Prelude to specific questions of equality and fairness for immigrant Bengali fishers

Rise of right wing Odiya environmentalism: caste, ethnicity, territory, even citizenship

Filters for just conservation (evidence of belonging, residence, tradition)

Markers of social identity, fishing technologies, environmental culpability

Absence of private property at sea; collective claims undermined within negative environmentalism

Disjuncture between fishers’ (leaders) politics and concrete everyday struggle for justice

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References

Baviskar, A. 2003 ‘States, communities and conservation: The practice of Ecodevelopment in the Great Himalayan National Park’, in V.K. Saberwal and M. Rangarajan (eds.) Battles over nature: Science and the politics of conservation, Permanent Black, Delhi.Chatterji, J. 2007 The spoils of partition: Bengal and India, 1947-67, Cambridge University Press, New Delhi.Das, P.D. 2011 ‘Politics of participatory conservation: A case of Kailadevi sanctuary, Rajasthan, India’, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, School of Oriental and African Studies, London.Dobson, A. 1999 Justice and the environment: Conceptions of environment sustainability and theories of distributive justice, Oxford University Press, USA.Greenpeace 2008 ‘Odisha: Turning seas of trouble into seas of plenty’Jayal, N.G. 2010 ‘Balancing political and ecological values’, Environmental Politics, 10:1, 65-88Neumann, R. P. 1998. Imposing wilderness: struggles over livelihood and nature preservation in Africa, University of California Press, Berkeley.Saberwal, V. and Rangarajan, M. 2003 ‘Introduction’ in V.K. Saberwal and M. Rangarajan (eds.) Battles over nature: Science and the politics of conservation, Permanent Black, DelhiSalagramma, V. 2006 ‘Trends in poverty and livelihoods in coastal fishing communities of Odisha state, India’, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 490Sharma, M. 2012 Green and saffron: Hindu nationalism and Indian environmental politics, Permanent Black, Ranikhet.Sinha, S. 2012 ‘Transnationality and the Indian Fishworkers’ Movement, 1960s-2000’, Journal of Agrarian Change, 12: 2,3, 364-389. Skaria, A. 1999 Hybrid histories: Forests, frontier and wilderness in western India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.