In 2012, I was working with the fishing communities of the Indian Sundarbans. During this time, I visited Namkhana Block, located in the southwestern part of the Indian Sundarbans aka Sundarban Biosphere Reserve. I was already familiar with the issue of evacuation of fishermen from the Island of Jambu. Prior to 2003, Jambu was one of the major dry fish production centers of West Bengal, India. Fishers from different parts of the Sundarbans used to come to Jambu to catch fish from the Bay of Bengal and dry that fish on the coast. Most of Jambu's fishermen were residents of Kakdwip Block whose ancestors migrated from present day Bangladesh in the 1950s, 60, and 70s. These migrant fishermen brought their culture and technique of behundi net fishing ( bag net fishing) and settled in the southwestern parts of the Indian Sundarbans. More precisely they settled in Bakkhali, Frasergunj, Namkhana, Kakdwip, and Sagar Island as these places provided ecological conditions similar to coastal areas in Bangladesh to practice behundi net fishing.
The evacuation of transient fishing communities from the Jambu compelled some people to leave their traditional occupation. These people migrated to Kolkata and other cites in India and took up odd jobs such as pulling rickshaws and working as a street vendor. Some fishermen looked for open space on the coast and ended up in coastal areas of Frasergunj. I met some of these fishermen involved in dry fish business at Paschim Amrabati Baliara Char and Lakshmipur Abad Char near Frasergunj. Most of the fishermen who come to Paschim Amrabati and Lakshmipur Abad are residents of Kakdwip, especially the fishermen who have relatively large fishing camps or shabars. For example, relatively well off fishermen from Kakdwip occupied 2-2.5 bigha land on the coast. However, this is small if we compare the shabar size on the Jambu Island. Previously, a well off fisherman on Jambu used to occupy 10-12 bigha of land to build a fishing camp. From the Aratdar (fish depot owner) and the Secretary of the Paschim Amrabati Baliara Char, I developed some idea about the scale of the shabar business. In the 2012-2013 fishing season the total number of shabars was 61 that occupied a total land area of 100-120 bigha. At least 5,000 people earned their livelihood from the fish drying occupation at Pashichim Amrabati Baliara Char. There was a sense of fear among these transient fishing communities that their age old occupation would be lost in future due to lack of suitable space on the coast and lack of labor. Lack of suitable coastal areas to build khunti or shabar and lack of skilled labor came up again again during our conversation at Frasergunj and Kalisthan. Also, the younger generation is not interested in dry fish business as they are aware of dwindling fish stock in the region, uncertainty of income, and loss of lives in the open sea during cyclones. The other reason is their aspiration to be engaged in occupations which would give them financial stability and respect. Currently, the western parts of the Indian Sundarbans is facing land loss due to increased amount of melt water from the Hiamalayan glaciers. All these physiographic and socio-economic factors may result in loss of a traditional livelihood in the Sundarabns unless the fishing communities demand more attention from the state government and the government, including the Fishery Department, takes some measures to protect shabar business in the coastal areas of West Bengal.
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A fishing trawler has reached the coast of Paschim Amrabati Baliara Char with catch |
A typical khunti or shabar at Frasergunj, Namkhana, West Bengal
Author: Priyanka Ghosh, University of Kentucky
