traditional fishing practices, fishermen and … · 72.91 % of the total area under wetlands of...

IJED: Vol. 9, No. 1, (January-June 2012): 119-129

1 Dept. of Ecology and Environmental Science, Assam University, Silchar 788011, Assam, India,(E-mail: [email protected])

TRADITIONAL FISHING PRACTICES, FISHERMEN ANDLIVELIHOOD – A CASE STUDY OF CHATLA FLOODPLAIN

AREA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE VILLAGEIRONGMARA, BARAK VALLEY, ASSAM

Pinki Purkayastha1 & Susmita Gupta1

Abstract: A survey was conducted in village Irongmara of Chatla floodplain area to determinethe floodplain fishery resources, traditional methods of fishing and the livelihood status of fishfarmers for a period of 1 year (January 2010-December 2010). The survey was conducted on 50number of fish farmers inhabiting village Irongmara. Fishermen of the village use differentfishing gears and different traditional methods of fishing depending upon the species, size andseason. As per the survey, economic status of fisher folk is low. This study revealed that fishfarmers often come across various social, economical and technical problems and due to thatmany of them have adopted fishing as their part time occupation. Ameliorating measures forovercoming the problems have also been suggested.

Keywords: Traditional methods, fish farmers, fishing gears, livelihood.

INTRODUCTION

Fishing is not a new practice in India. Evidence of fishing were found among the prehistoricartefacts (Allchin and Allchin 1982; Sarkar 1984:187), in the artefacts of Harappan pottery,motif and civilisation of Indus valley (Bagchi 1955: 66, Allchin and Allchin 1982) and ‘Asokan’epigraphical materials (Hora 1950: 43; Thapar 1961). Religious texts also mention about fishand fishing. The traditional fishers can be termed as a repository of valuable knowledge aboutthe dynamic nature of fishery resources and ecosystems. The floodplain wetlands constituteimportant fishery resources of Assam. They are unique ecosystems providing livelihood tomillions of people all over the world (FAO 1997). A proper integration of local and traditionalagro-ecosystem addressing poor farmer’s interest along with sustainable management of wetlandsis the key for a successful wise–use planning of wetlands (Mitra et al. 2005:25). These wetlandsare often left unutilized or improperly utilized because of lack of proper initiative or awarenessof people residing around them or even lack of coordination and management problems(Katiha 2001:155; Singh et al. 1994:159).

120 • Pinki Purkayastha & Susmita Gupta

Welcomme (2006:15) has very clearly shown how the modifications in natural hydrographshave affected fish stocks in floodplains in different parts of the world. In Barak river system inAssam, north-eastern India, floodplain lakes locally called Haors or Beels are common features.In Barak valley the total wetland area is 13737.5 ha, which in turn, represents about 14 % of thetotal natural wetland area in the state of Assam. Haors or Beels together are known to comprise72.91 % of the total area under wetlands of Barak Valley. The beels of Assam are highlyproductive systems, producing around 100 kg/ ha/ yr of fish in contrast to a meager 6-7 kg/ ha/yr from Indian reservoirs (Jhingran and Tripathy 1969; Jhingran 1991:727). Gravid fishes ofseveral species such as the Indian major carps, the minor carps and other forms like Eutropicthysvacha and Gudusia chapra migrate in large numbers in to the beels during monsoon andform a post monsoon fishery of considerable economic prospect (Jhingran 1991:727).Even long range migrants like Hilsha ilisha are known to migrate into these floodplain lakes(Yadav et al. 1986:179).

Chatla wetland (90º 45/ N and 24º45/ E), situated about 20Km south of Silchar, BarakValley, Assam, has a number of small inlets and a single outlet which drains into river Barak.The wetland basin has about 32 villages whose economy is highly dependent on fish andagricultural crops produced in the area. The village Irongmara is one of them. Average rainfallof the area is 3180 mm. During wet period the whole wetland acts as a fishery where as duringdry period the people practise agriculture mainly, although many areas remain water logged andused as fishery. This floodplain originally had rich vegetation with Barringtonia acutangula asthe dominant species a common swamp forest species which can withstand prolonged waterlogging in association with Calamus tenuis, a Rattan species. The other common treesinclude Lagerstroemia flosreginae and Vitex spp., Erianthus raveneae and Phragmites karka.Though it is an important floodplain wetland of Barak valley, Assam, unfortunately it is in aderelict condition. A GIS study recorded 73% loss of wetland area of Chatla (Phookan andLaskar 2006). Traditional fishing gear, specialised fishing techniques and fishing practices mouldthe socio-economy of the inhabitants of an area and their livelihood. Selection of fishing methodsand fishing gears are influenced by various factors such as physiography of water bodies. Itvaries in hilly areas, plains and also in marine areas. Fishing is a prominent economic practice inEast Asian countries. Bangladesh ranks first (467 kg/km2) position in the world, in open waterfish production (Ahmed et al. 1997:20). China has been the world largest exporter of fish andfishery products since 2002. (FAO 2007). India’s exclusive economic zone, stretching 200 nauticalmiles (370 km) into the Indian Ocean, encompasses more than 2 million square kilometres. Thepotential annual catch from the area has been estimated as 4.5 million tons (LCCS,website2007). Human societies of each and every country possess individual types of fishing gears andtraditional fishing practices. In this paper, an attempt has been made to generate relevant baselineinformation on the traditional fishing practices and sustainable livelihood of fishermen of Chatlafloodplain with special reference to village Irongmara.

METHODOLOGY

Information on the traditional fishing practices and socio economic condition of the fisher folkswere collected both from primary and secondary sources during the year 2010 from the fishermenof village Irongmara located in Chatla floodplain area (Figure 1). Primary data were collected

Traditional Fishing Practices, Fishermen and Livelihood – A Case Study of … • 121

by preparing interview schedule with structured and semi-structured questions extracting datafrom 50 number of fishermen (Murdock et al. 1986). A multistage sampling techniques wasused to select sample respondents (FAO Corporate document repository) and finally the statisticalanalyses were made using MS EXCEL 2007.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The survey revealed that maximum number of families in the village (76%) are with 5-10 numbersof people and minimum number of families (2%) posses’ 15-20 numbers of members (Table 1).57.14% children of this village are male where as 42.85% are female among the children belowsixteen years of age. (Table 2). This study revealed that 76% fishermen of the area involvethemselves in fishing activity during Monsoon-Post monsoon season only. However 24% of thevillagers are engaged in fishing activity as their year round economy (Table 3). The main factorin this regard is that around 80% fishermen of the village are part time fishermen and theyconsider fishing as either their primary or secondary economy (Table 4). The fishermen ofstudy area use different fishing gears and Nets such as Dip Net (Dub Jal), Current net /fine meshseine net (Moshari jal), Seine net (Fas jal and Ber jal), Gill net (Ural jal), Fishing spear (Konch),Cylindrical automatic fishing trap (Faron), Automatic trap (Runga), Automatic fishing trap(Dori, and Sepa) etc. Percentage composition of their use is shown in the Figure 2. Thoughmajority of the fishermen are not satisfied with fishing as their economy, 43% families possestheir monthly income within the range of Rs. 3500-4000 which is not at all sufficient to fulfil theneeds of the families with 5-10 number of members having one or two persons per familyinvolved in economic activities. However 25% and 24% families reported their monthly incomewithin the range of Rs. 4000-4500 and Rs. 4500-5000 per month respectively and monthly

Figure 1: Map of the Study Area


income of 8% people of the area are within the range of Rs. 3000-3500 per month (Figure 3).80% fishermen of the area are not satisfied with fishing as their economy (Figure 4) due tolow capture per unit effort (Figure 5) but most shocking part is that 94% fishermen of the areadon’t want to see their next generation as fishermen (Figure 6). Chatla floodplain comprise oflow-lying areas that get inundated during monsoon (June-September), with numerous smallhillocks strewn within them. These hillocks are villages that are largely inhabited by theKaivartya people who are traditionally fishers and cultivators. They earn their livelihoodthrough fishing in monsoon, and by growing Boro paddy (summer rice) that is sown in Januaryand harvested in late April-May, after water recedes from the floodplain (Laskar and Gupta2011:39). The water quality and the fish stock of aquatic systems have great relationship.Meteorology also plays an important role in fisheries because solar radiation and air temperatureinfluence water temperature, which in turn affects the natural productivity of inland and marinewaters and the growth of fish species (Kapetsky 2000:109). Condition of water body playssignificant role in determining the methods of fishing and economy associated with it. Aquaticplants, the soil and the water in which fishes are grown should have favourable conditions fortheir growth. Gabellone et al. (2001:133) suggested that the four major regulatory factors ofthe ecology of the pond of floodplain ecosystem are dry season, a high and sudden increase ofriver flow, increase in particulate material and clear water condition. Since survival andproduction of fishes depend upon the primary and secondary production of the aquatic habitatsthere have been a number of attempts of correlating fish yields with limnological factorsinfluencing the productivity of lakes throughout the world (Rawson 1955: 164; Northcote andLarkin 1956: 515; Ryder 1965: 214). The direct approach, which has received greater attentionrecently, is the correlation of fish yields with primary production (Smith and Swingle 1938:309;McConnel 1965: 539; Hrbacek 1969:1069; Sreenivasan 1972: 505; Wolny andGrygievek 1972:563; Melack 1976:575; Oglesbby 1977:2271; Noriega-Curtis 1979:335; Lianget al. 1981:346).

Table 1Percentage Composition of Families in Fishermen Families of Village Irongmara According to

Family Size

Family members % of families

1 to 5 6%

5 to 10 76%

10 to 15 16%

15 to 20 2%

Total 100%

Table 2Number and Percentage Composition of Male and Female Children in Irongmara

No. of Male and Female children % of male and female children

Male Children (Below 16 Yrs.) 232 57.14%

Female Children (Below 16 Yrs.) 174 42.85%

Total 406 100%


Table 3Percentage Composition of Fishermen who Depend on the Seasonal/ Year Round

Fishing Activity

Timing of fishing activity % composition of fishermen

Seasonal 76%Year round 24%Total 100%

Table 4Percentage Composition of Fishermen who Depend on the Part Time/ Full Time Fishing Activity

Type of Profession % composition of fishing activity

Part time fishermen 80%Full time fisherman 20%Total 100%

**Net (other types) = Current net /fine mesh seine net (Moshari jal), Seine net (Fas jaland Ber jal), Gill net (Ural jal).

Figure 2: Percentage Composition of Fishermen Using Different Types of Fishing Gears

Figure 3: Percentage Composition of Monthly Income Range of the Fisherman Families of Village Irongmara


Figure 4: Percentage Composition of Satisfaction Level of Fishermen of Irongmara withFishing as their Economy

Figure 5: Percentage Composition of Range of Capture Per Unit Effort (CPUE)(kgs/hr/indiv) in Irongmara

Figure 6: Percentage Composition of Fishermen who Want Continuity of Fishing Profession in theNext Generation


In Chatla floodplain several studies have been conducted on the water quality. A study onnine different floodplain ponds of village Irongmara showed, that the rural ponds can be avery good source of water for drinking, domestic use and fishery and should be conserved atany cost (Bhuiyan and Gupta 2007: 799). Hence based on the seasonal variation of physico-chemical properties of water and phytoplankton population, an integrated managementapproach combining capture and culture fishery during monsoon and dry spell in differentareas of the Chatla floodplain lake could be taken up for augmenting fish production to a greatextent. (Laskar and Gupta 2007: 1007). A wide variety of fishing practices are followed in thefloodplain area depending upon the species, size and season. These are basically differentcapture technology, which had undergone changes across the time. These fishing gears aregenerally made with bamboo and fishing nets are generally made by weaving of cotton threadsand in some cases nylon threads too. The gears most commonly used by fishers of study areagenerally include fishing weapons, nets, traps both manipulated and automatic, valved aswell as non valved. Fishing-spear is mainly used by the people of Bengal and Assam. Fisherscan catch fishes simply by throwing the specially designed spear which is very handy.Automatic fishing traps like Dori, Faron, Runga and Sepa do not require any manipulation byhand. These valved and non valved gears are to be kept along the water current. Valves arenothing but trap doors through which fish can enter but can not go out easily. Different typesof Nets used by the people Chatla area include Lift nets, Gill Net and Seine Net. Barringtoniaacutangula is used by the fishermen to provide habitat to the fishes that assembles in thefisheries from the rivers . Besides all that, fishermen of study area use some common plantspecies for providing shelter to the small fishes after the water recedes during October-November. Use of Barringtonia acutangula is also reported in earlier work made in ChatlaFloodplain area (Nath et al. 2010: 544).

The study revealed that among the fishermen of village Irongmara too big or too small sizedfamilies are not prominent. Though different traditional methods of fishing exist but still theeconomic scenario is not good enough. The income ratio itself speaks about the poor conditionof fishermen of Chatla area. This study finds that family size influences a lot in determining theeconomic condition of families. The population and poverty nexus is not new but remains animportant development issue for many countries. The link between savings and family size, orthe number of children in a family, was explored in the earlier cited Popular Economics. Arelated study by Orbeta (2006) illustrated the negative impact of number of children on savings,with more emphasis on the aggregate savings level. As most of the children of fishermen familiesstart helping their elders from very young age, majority of them leave their studies after gettingprimary level of education. Present study reported that 57.14% children of this area are malechildren where as 42.85% constitute female population. It showed slight variation with 2011census data of Cachar District (Gov. Census website, 2011) where 51.46% people are markedas male and 48.53% as female. Sex plays a very important role in fishing and agriculture, interms of property acquisition, because women mainly restrict themselves in household activities,posses less power, and play a less important economic role. Women are considered non-entitieswhen it comes to community affairs. Religious and cultural beliefs and customs bear harder onwomen than on men. The restrictions imposed on the mobility and activity of young unmarriedwomen is one such example. Beside household work most women enjoy leisure time. There is


therefore a pool of potentially productive labour that is underutilized. Similar social conditionof the women of fishermen communities was reported from the study conducted by Drewes(1982) on the three fishing villages in Tamilnadu. Women’s participation in small scale fishfarming, poultry rearing, vegetable farming and traditional handicraft etc. might contribute a lotin economic development of each and every individual fishermen family. An evaluation of theongoing community based management process in Bangladesh by FAO (2007) indicated that ithad contributed to the development of self-help initiatives, local ownership and decision-makingin communities.

According to the fishermen of the village studied, fishing as a profession is full ofuncertainties. The combined effect of the encroachment and cultivation has increased siltationin the wetland reducing fish production. Further unscientific and indiscriminate fishing notonly declined fish density it also showed severe impact on its diversity. As a result severalspecies of fishes are becoming increasingly rare in Chatla floodplain area. 70% fishermen ofthe study area reported their capture per unit effort per unit time per individual ranges between0.1 Kg/hr/individual to 0.5 kg/hr/individual .A preliminary study (Das 2002) on the capturefishery potential of Chatla pointed out the stressed environmental status of Chatla wetland.The amount of catch has spatial and temporal variation. Many a time’s fishermen are frustratedafter their catch. This gambling nature of the catch and increased cost of fish food might beone of the major reasons of frustration among the fisher folks. It is difficult to draw a linebetween luck and skill. Lack of scientific knowledge, multiple ownership of ponds, occurrenceof fish disease and non availability of good quality fish fry are the major problems in pondfish culture. Ali et al. (1982: 37), Ali and Rahman (1986: 47) also reported similar situation inBangladesh. Chowdhury (1981:109) reported that lack of fund for re-excavation of pondsranked first among all the problems faced by the fish farmers of Bangladesh. Perhaps due tosimilar problems 80% fishermen are not satisfied with fishing as their economy and 94%fishermen don’t want to grow their children as fishermen. Majority fishermen of the area(80%) have shifted fishing from their primary occupation to part time occupation .Similarcondition has been reported from Dhir Beel of Assam where presently, only a few originalfishers are fishing in the beel. A majority of them have migrated to the urban centres for theirlivelihoods. They are engaged in activities like urban industrial labour, wage earner and manysuch professions (Barik et al. 2007). Kalitha and Chandra (1990:113) stated that it is necessaryto reduce the role of middleman to maximize the returns for fishermen. It is necessary todevelop a community-based co-management model for the beels of Assam like those appliedin the reservoir fisheries in North-Eastern Brazil (Christensen et al. 1995:7). This might enhancethe development of fisheries and fishermen of Barak Valley as well as Assam.

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi for financial assistance.

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