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Fishing for success

P. Devarajan

ON a Sunday morning along the Tawa river some Adivasi fishermen were displaying the nets and inflatable rubber tubes left behind by fish poachers overnight. The fishermen were debating on the next step when Fagram, one of the young, outspoken leaders sai d, ``We will track them down and if they apologise we will leave them alone. Otherwise ...'' Fagram shuts up.

For the predominantly Adivasi population comprising of Gonds and Korkus, fishing on the Tawa river is the lifeline and naturally they want to preserve the bounty of the river. The shut season to allow fish breeding started on June 16 and will extend till August 15. In normal times they do not kill rohu fish below one kg and katla fish below two kg, to allow for a new generation to fill up the waters.

Just one pointer to the economic change in the last three years is the general rise in incomes from Rs. 61.17 per day in 1997-98 to Rs. 84.17 per day in 1998-99 and Rs. 82.37 per day in 1999-2000, according to Dr. S.N. Chatterjee, retired Director of Fis heries, Madhya Pradesh government, now actively into helping the adivasi fishermen with the latest in technology such as the Chinese `pen culture' to improve the quality of fish seed.

You can read the success in the beaming faces of Karim Sheikh, Guliya Bai, Fagram and others who have over the last three years been running the Tawa reservoir system. For Mr. Sunil Gupta and Ms. Smita Gupta, the Tawa experiment for settling adivasis dis placed by the Tawa Dam (a part of the series of dams along the Narmada river) can be replicated with modifications in other locations.

The Tawa river has its origin at Mahadeo Hills in Chindwara district, flows through Betul and joins the Narmada in Hoshangabad district in Madhya Pradesh. It is the longest tributary of the Narmada at 172 kms. With the coming up of the Tawa Dam, 20,050 h ectares of land were submerged, 44 villages were either fully or partially affected of which 27 were forest and the remaining were revenue villages.

The total number of families affected is placed at about 4,145. The rehabilitation packages were meant only for revenue villages with those in the forest villages moving upstream or shifting to other areas in and around the reservoir. With forests going under water, the adivasis lost their source of living and ``though they ate fish they were never fishermen'', says Mr. Sunil Gupta who has been living in the area for the last 15 years fighting for the rights of the tribals.

Sunil, as he likes to be called, is adored by the adivasis as he has stood by them in their long tussle with the police and government in the initial years. ``One lathi charge was particularly fierce and I was named by the police though I never took part . The cases still drags on,'' Sunil recalls. In his green khadi kurta torn at the shoulders, white pyjamas and black chappals, Sunil roams the place and has grasped the nuances of fishing.

In a note, Dr. S.N. Chatterjee writes: ``With the transformation of the rivers into a lake ecosystem, the tribal inhabitants were denied free access to the reservoir while it was in the impounding stage, a right they enjoyed during the pre-impoundment st age. Exploitation of the reservoir, hitherto under the state control, was taken by the traditional fishermen from neighbouring areas around Narmada and also by Bengali immigrants from Bangladesh. Participation of the local tribals in fishing activities w as meagre as they were not organised, lacked proficiency and were ill-equipped for fishing activities.''

From 1975-76 to 1993-94, the Tawa reservoir was under state control. In 1993-94, fish production was 84.42 tonnes, yield per hectare 6.960 kgs, stocking of fish seed 27.48 lakhs, stocking rate per hectare 226, total wages paid was Rs. 4.92 lakhs, average number of fishermen stood at 177 and the average income per fisherman was Rs. 2,780.

In 1994-95, the Fisheries Corporation privatised by leasing out the reservoir for one year on an `outright contract' basis. In 1994-95 fish production moved up to 176.18 tonnes, yield to 15.5 kg, stocking of fish seed to 17.96 lakhs, stocking rate per he ctare dropped to 148, total wages paid climbed up to Rs. 11.2 lakhs, the average number of fishermen stood at 220 and the average income per fisherman moved up to Rs. 5,091.

In 1995-96, the adivasis pitched up their demand to own the reservoir on the lines of the Bargi Dam and the entire fishing rights were vested with Tawa Matsya Sangh effective December 24, 1996 and actual fishing operations were initiated on January 2, 19 97. In 1998-99, fish production went up to 344.811 tonnes, yield per hectare to 28.350 kgs, stocking of fish seed to 27.9 lakhs and stocking rate per hectare to 230, total wages paid Rs.44.73 lakhs, average number of fishermen 204 and average income per fisherman came to Rs. 21,926.

``The displaced Adivasi fishermen were given complete ownership rights for the first time testing their skills at management,'' says Karim Sheikh a fisherman from Vishakapatnam. Some of the important conditions of the agreement are: a) the duration of th e lease is for five years, till December 23, 2001; b) TMS will pay royalty at the rate of Rs. 6 per kg on 80 per cent of the fish harvested to the State Fisheries Corporation with 20 per cent free for the fishermen; c) the State Tribal Welfare Department will provide Rs. 3 lakhs towards the share capital of the Sangh and advance another Rs. 3 lakhs as interest free loan; d) the stocking of the reservoir will be the sole responsibility of TMS to be managed out of their own funds; e) as the objective of i s to rehabilitate the oustees only, the project affected people residing within a radius of three kms of the reservoir are entitled to become members of the co-operatives. Today there are 38 primary fishing co-operatives with a total membership of 1,042 fishermen reporting to the TMS.

About 40 per cent of the catch is sold locally with the rest being sold in Bhopal and Howrah in Calcutta, the biggest fish market in India. In the absence of a cold chain a huge catch brings down prices and the fishermen cannot hold on to stocks beyond a t best 24 hours.

Yet Mr. Sunil Gupta claims TMS has probably the best marketing strategy perhaps surpassing such institutions in Kerala. A pleasant breeze nudges the waters of the reservoir which has dried up quite a bit in the absence of rains and though it is the end o f June when we visited the dam their was few monsoon showers. The wooden boats have all been pulled ashore and fishermen are keen to allow the fish to breed.

But there is a sense of surety encircling the future of these fishermen. On one side, bamboo poles with nets stick out of the water putting in place the `pen culture'. Huge nets are strung across bamboo poles to form pens for fish seedlings to grow and a re let into the reservoir at the appropriate time.

Sunil, Karim Sheikh and the rest have won a point: Illiterate adivasis can be responsible owners of water bodies adopting top drawer management practices. Fagram protests, ``Abhi tak sarkar apne ko sabashi nahin dee hai (the government has not congratula ted us on our good work).'' Income levels have gone up but there has been little improvement in the health or literacy status of these villagers. They know malaria is a major disease while most, if not all of them, have never seen a school. Now that they have provided a permanent source of bringing the school and the health centre could be the next task for Sunil and Smita.