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By Sarmistha Pattanaik As the dispute over Chilika's aquatic resources continues, violent conflicts are erupting between fishermen and non-fishermen, authorised and unauthorised shrimp culturists, and locals and outsiders
Another monsoon session of Parliament is in full swing. Around this time last August, 3,000 fishermen from Chilika lake staged demonstrations in Bhubaneswar before the Orissa Legislative Assembly. Anticipating that the controversial Chilika Regulation Bill 2002 might be tabled, the protestors submitted a memorandum to the chief minister demanding a complete ban on prawn culture and the entry of non-traditional fishermen to the lake. The issue at stake was a clause in the Bill, which aimed to reserve 30% of the lake's fishing area for non-traditional fishermen. The Bill in question was, in fact, first proposed in 2001. It was cleared by the state Cabinet but was held back due to fierce opposition. Introduced again on March 26, 2002, it was referred to a select committee of the house on April 3, 2002, with instructions to submit a report by the end of the eighth session of the 12th State Assembly in 2003. The committee considered the Bill's general features, then went into it clause by clause, and finally approved the report on December 9, 2003. However, the strength of the people's movement prompted the state government to once again defer passing the Bill. Despite this, and as the 2005 demonstrations show, it's obvious that the fisherfolk consider the menace far from over and, in fact, fear that the Bill may be passed quietly without a single amendment. Balaram Das, president of the Chilika Matsyajibi Mahasangha (traditional fishermen's federation) is unambiguous about the position: "We are against the Bill because it will deny us sole fishing rights over the lake and favour non-fishermen and the prawn mafia." The Chilika story Over 5,000 years old, Chilika has had a long history of sustainable fishing practices. The world's second largest lake, a rare mix of estuarine, marine and freshwater ecosystems, Chilika is also the largest brackish water lake in Asia , which makes it particularly conducive to prawn fishing. Designated a Ramsar International Wetland in 1981 (under the Convention on Wetlands, Ramsar 1971 Framework), the lake supports a variety of phytoplankton, algae, aquatic and non-aquatic plants, besides a reported 225 species of fish and a million migratory birds, including a number of endangered species listed in the IUCN Red List of threatened species. According to Directorate of Fisheries Statistics 2000-01, the lagoon ecosystem also supports 122,339 fisherfolk who live in the 137 villages around Chilika. Today, however, this lagoon that has long been the pride of Orissa, is facing a serious environmental crisis thanks to rapid siltation, decreasing salinity of the lake's waters and a gradual lowering of depth. In addition, the fish economy of the lake has undergone a series of dramatic changes from the early-1990s. The lucrative nature of the prawn culture industry, along with its relatively short gestation period, has always attracted fishermen -- both local and outsiders -- to culture fishery. But, as liberalisation boosted exports and modern techniques were introduced, non-fishermen have entered the shrimp culture industry in a big way, leading to unsustainable methods of shrimp farming, geared entirely to fully exploiting the lake's resources. Several specific factors have accelerated this process of change: the devaluation of the Indian rupee in 1991 and its continuing depreciation till date, increase in the export potential of primary producers and natural resources and, in turn, rising home currency earnings, a rapid increase in shrimp prices (from a mere Rs 35 per kg in 1980 to Rs 250 in 1992 to Rs 500 in 2000 and, again, Rs 550 in 2001). The impact of these monetary changes was compounded by an increase in the overall number of fishermen, modernisation in fishing techniques, with nylon nets and motorised boats, and a semi-intensive shrimp culture. On top of all this, dramatic changes in the Chilika lease policy in 1991 (and subsequent modification in 1994), which allowed commercial aquaculture in the lake, ultimately sounded the death knell for traditional fisheries based on capture sources (traditional nets and methods) as opposed to new systems (intensive methods using pesticides, enclosures, motorboats, et al ) of culture sources. Meanwhile, with the displacement of scheduled caste fishermen by the largely upper caste outsiders, caste and class conflicts have also found their way into this simmering cauldron. Lake ecology under fire As the international price of tiger prawns spiralled, the stakes for these non-fishermen became formidable. The huge profits, however, have been accompanied by large-scale environmental degradation. Shrimp culture uses high protein feed, and shrimp ponds are highly polluting. Abandoned shrimp ponds cannot be converted to other uses such as agriculture. Shrimp gheries, or bamboo enclosures, also disrupt tidal flushing and reduce levels of oxygen and salinity in the water. This leads to a reduction in the natural growth of fish and creates problems for traditional fisherfolk. As no other seedlings can grow here, gheries reduce fish stocks. In fact, the quality of shrimp seedlings in gheries measuring more than 22,000 acres in the leased area, and around 20,000 acres of encroached area in the lake, has declined, as have fish catches. And the recent introduction of pens has meant that even more parts of the lake have been enclosed. Therefore, extensive prawn culture in Chilika has had a serious impact on the ecology of the lake, in turn further reducing traditional fishery sources for capture fishery. Conflict over resources Today there is considerable competition between the various lobbies -- fishermen and non-fishermen, authorised and unauthorised shrimp culturists, locals and outsiders -- over the aquatic resources of the lake. With the increasing dominance of the business mafia, powerful industrial elite, shrimp merchants and politicians, law and order has also broken down. Revenue officials play a key role, manipulating areas earmarked for leasing, or leasing un-leased areas to unauthorised culturists at a price. This means that even the efforts of senior technocrats to abolish shrimp gheries are being subverted by revenue officials at the tehsil level. Traditional fishermen entering these areas are now being treated as encroachers, leading to violent conflicts between the two groups. The resistance movement in Chilika has emerged basically out of conflicts over access to natural resources, or occupational displacement. The 14,000 acres earmarked to non-fishermen for shrimp culture, encroachment of around 20,000 acres, mostly by non-fishermen, and declaration of a portion of the lake as a bird sanctuary by the government have adversely affected the socio-economic condition of most traditional fishermen. Balaram Das feels that by allowing non-fishermen fishing rights, the state government is indirectly promoting illegal prawn farming, thereby defeating the very purpose of the proposed legislation. He feels this would "again threaten the livelihood of the traditional fishermen and cause irreparable damage to the fragile ecosystem of 'Maa Chilika'". What really worries the traditional fishermen in the regulation Bill is the clause that promises to reserve 30% of the lake's fishing area for non-traditional fishermen. In other words, primary fishermen and non-fishermen societies will be entitled to sub-leases on a 70:30 basis, for all practical purposes. While this may seem like a tilt in favour of traditional fishermen, the clause, in fact, virtually sanctions illegal encroachment of the lake's waters by the prawn lobby and gives non-fishermen groups a legal position in the whole fracas. Is the state playing games? Biswapriya Kanungo, legal advisor to the Chilika Matsyajibi Mahasangha alleges that the government has deliberately fomented trouble in Chilika by allowing export-oriented culture fishing in the lake. Despite official assurances that the Bill will lead to a ban on culture fishing, the fishermen contend that it will end up regularising the illegal industry. The government's proposal that maximum fishing areas will go to traditional fishing communities also has no takers, as the fisherfolk oppose the idea of giving even 14,000 acres of the total fishing area to non-traditional fishermen's primary cooperative societies. A globalised model of development "Chilika Maati payin, aame jibana debu" ("We will sacrifice our lives for the sake of Mother Chilika"). Traditional fishermen, unlike their modern counterparts, have a close relationship with the lake. However, like many other people's movements across India, this one too is reaching breaking point, with the fisherfolk prepared to die to protect their rights to life and livelihood. The Chilika protest underlines the fact that the process of liberalisation via commercial aquaculture projects has never been beneficial, least of all for the poor and marginalised fisherfolk. Threatened alike by business and by a state that has clearly adopted the globalised model of development, Chilika showcases how intensive exploitation of resources brings people into severe conflict. (With inputs from Lina Krishnan) (Sarmistha Pattanaik is a Fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development. CISED does research and dialogue on issues at the interface of environment and development in South Asia) InfoChange News & Features, August 2006
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