The fishing community along Mumbai’s coast is grappling with significant financial losses due to disrupted fishing activities caused by a combination of geopolitical tensions and unexpected pre-monsoon heavy showers. Though the entire community has not suffered losses, many fisherfolk stated that they had lost a huge chunk of their income as fishing activities were temporarily stopped almost 20-25 days before the non-fishing season. “We do not venture deep into the sea, and so did not have to bear the brunt of the recent rain. We suffered a nominal loss of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per day for four or five days, at the most for a week, when we were directed not to hit the coast as there was a war-like situation between India and Pakistan. On May 10, we resumed fishing and will cease our activities around June 10, like we do every year. However, those who go fishing in deep sea water have faced huge losses,” said Ramesh Koli, a Worli resident who goes fishing in the approximate 27-35 km expanse between Navy Nagar and Vasai.

Fisherfolk share woes

Manoj Worlikar, a fisherman from Worli, told mid-day, “Our boats and nets are ready. But nature and politics have turned against us. Nature is angry because of human activities leading to global warming, while the recent political tensions have made it risky for us to do our already-risky jobs. We, who have relatively smaller boats, have incurred a loss of nearly Rs 30 lakh. Those with bigger boats have suffered losses as high as Rs 50 lakh, just because fishing stopped almost 20 days ahead of the regular halting time. Also, now that it rains heavily almost every day, we cannot go deeper into the sea. In a week, we will anyway stop fishing until July 31.”