It is the day when the Koli community worships the sea with offering coconuts and venture out into the sea with their boats and trawlers.
For Mumbai’s aboriginal fishermen community, Narali Paurnima is the most auspicious festival. It is the day when the Koli community worships the sea with offering coconuts and venture out into the sea with their boats and trawlers. However, with the sinking of MV Rak along the coast of Mumbai, this year is likely to begin on a sombre note for Mumbaikar fisherfolk.
With over five lakh fishermen, 2000 mechanised boats and 500 smaller boats, Mumbai has one of the biggest fishing businesses in the western region. However, according to Rajan Tapke, president of the Maharashtra Wing of the National Association of Fishermen, this year their business will definitely be affected due to the oil spill along the Mumbai coast. “The state department for fisheries has already told the Mumbai fishermen to wait till August 15 before venturing out in the sea. Although the oil spill from MV Rak will not directly affect our day-to-day business, many fishermen are naturally in two minds whether to venture out in the sea or not,” said Tapke.
Tapke further alleged that the state government is not at all serious about the fishermen community.
"Neither the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) or the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) have a concrete disaster management plan. On paper, there are fourfold securities for the coast with Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Police as well as the civil police patrolling the areas. In spite this, there two instances of ships hitting the western coast and one ship sinking, which resulted in the oil spill. How can the smaller fishermen survive in the business," questioned Tapke. He also said that with rumours about quality of fish doing the rounds thanks to the oil spill controversy, the fish rates have been going down, which is also not good news for the fishermen.
Mahesh Worlikar, who is the secretary of Worli Macchimar Co-operative Society, said that the oil spill, which severely damaged the mangroves in the creeks along Mumbai coast, is fatal for the marine life. “The mangroves are the breeding ground for many species of fish. However, with the oil spill killing most of the mangroves, there is hardly any marine life left in these areas,” said Worlikar. Damodar Tandel, president of the Akhil Maharashtra Macchimar Kriti Samiti opined that the question about the quality of fishes is not correct.
“Although it is a fact that the oil spill is affecting the overall business of fisher folks in the city, the quality of the fish, which we get, is not bad at all. One must understand that there is hardly any fish left along five to ten nautical miles of Mumbai coast. Whatever fish that we get is in deep sea approximately 100 to 150km inside sea and hence is safe to consume,” assured Tandel. However, he said that the series of mishaps on the Mumbai coast is definitely detrimental to the fishermen community.
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