Abstract
Chilika is the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia, home to over 3 lakh fisherfolk. This chapter depicts the rising resistance of the Matsyajibi Mahasangha and the Chilika Bachao Andolan when the Odisha government invited the Tatas in early 1991 for a prawn cultivation project. Although the movement against Tata was successful with the withdrawal of the company, the stranglehold of the upper-caste traders and fishing mafia became more tight over the years. The chapter also highlights the tyranny of the fishing mafia formed of upper caste big traders from Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar that continues till date. As commercial prawn cultivation began taking over large sections of the lake, it destroyed the livelihood of local fisherfolk as well as caused immense ecological damage to the lake.
The movement was a struggle of the fisherpeople against ‘development’—a form of development which threatened to leave them destitute from a habitat that coexists since centuries.
‘Fish,’ he said softly, aloud, ‘I’ll stay with you until I am dead.’
He’ll stay with me too, I suppose, the old man thought and he waited for it to be light.
—Hemingway, 2004
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Notes
- 1.
The title of this chapter has been taken from the name of this Odia film.
- 2.
Made in 1936, Redes was directed by Emilio Gomez Muriel and Fred Zinnemann. It shows the daily grind of the fishing community on the Gulf of Mexico. A terrible incident faced by the protagonist instigates a political awakening in him and his community.
- 3.
The upland near the village is called sairat. Traditionally, fisherfolk were the lease holders of these sairats. With the onset of commercial prawn cultivation, non-fisherfolk forcibly occupied the sairats. It became easier in places where the sairats were on the edge of their own villages.
- 4.
A.F. Leide-Law was a Canadian expert in fishery co-operatives. He was commissioned by the Government of Odisha to study the critical issues and problems of Chilika fisheries. He made a set of recommendations to implement the co-operative structure in Chilika under the government’s sairat leasing policy by maintaining the traditional system of community based operations of different kinds of fishery sources. The Chilika Reorganization Scheme, 1959, was based on these recommendations.
- 5.
Fishing Methods in Chilika:
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Bahana: In this method, fisherfolk use many types of nets, such as patuajala, sahalajala, khaingajala, muni jala, fishing in deeper waters.
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Jana: These are shallow areas near the villages. Traditionally, these shallow areas are enclosed by long sheets made of bamboo. Fisherfolk go to fishing in jana in the dead of night and enclose the area with bamboo sheets, keeping in view the movement of fish. Generally, this method of fishing occurs during the period from Ashwin (October) to Pausha (December). Now, nylon nets are being used in place of bamboo sheets. Secondly, many of these janas have been illegally and forcibly occupied by non-fishermen of nearby villages and turned into prawn gherries.
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Dian: It is a small place for fishing near the jana. It is enclosed by bamboo from four sides. Some fish jump into the dian from the jana. These dians also have been converted into prawn gherries.
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Uthapani: These are uplands near the lagoon. In the summer, fisherfolk build small bunds on those lands to trap rainwater in the rainy season. During the rainy season, the trapped water is slowly released into the lagoon, especially in the evenings. Fishes from the lake, especially kantia fish, climb up against the flow of the water. When fishes begin climbing up, the fisherfolk stop the flow of the water from above and catch them.
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Chingudi Khati: This method of fishing begins when the water of the Chilika becomes more brackish after the end of the rainy season. An area is enclosed with a bamboo sheet of 100–200 feet and traps are set up at one end. When the prawns move, they get trapped. Now, people are using fine nylon nets called zero-nets and traps to catch prawns. As a result, seedlings are also being trapped, in turn, the catch is diminishing day by day. These fine nets are also blocking the movement of waste and causing siltation.
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References
Behura, Nirakar. 1996. Odia O Odisha: Sameekshya ’96 and ’98. Vikalpa Sandhani Manch.
Chilika Teere. 1977. An Odia feature film.
Chilika: Voices of the People. 1993. A Report Published by Chilika Bachao Andolan Krantidarsi Yuva Sangam.
Hemingway, Ernest. 2004. The Old Man and the Sea. London: Arrow Books.
Mafiamalini Raktambu Chilika. 1999. A Report of Manabika Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), July.
Redes. 1936. A Mexican Film.
The Report of the Fact-Finding Committee on Chilika Fisheries Submitted to the High Court, Orissa. 16 August, 1993, Cuttack.
Upadhyaya, Kunjabihari. 2013. Wayward Chilika Bancha Andolan in Odishara Jana andolana. Balasore: Jeevan Sangram Saraswata Trust.
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Padhi, R., Sadangi, N. (2020). Chilika Teere. In: Resisting Dispossession. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0717-5_6
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