Mohabbat by Akanksha (At the Cafe by Gorje Hewek)
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Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Chilika Bank$
Images from Asia's Largest Brackish Water Lake
Meanwhile, since the prawns in the lake were now too few to be exported, they started being 'Farmed'. Prawn Culture - declared illegal by the Supreme Court of India in 1996 -
became the way for the people in Chilika to survive and cater to their ever growing need & greed. The farmers from the surrounding villages too jumped into prawn farming. Many parts of the lake were occupied illegally and prawns seeds, caught from the sea mouth, were farmed there for export. This caused further degradation in the environment of the lake.
Chilika's people too were affected - fights between the fishermen & the farmers (non-fishermen) became common. In every village country-made guns & bombs could be found. Violence & mistrust spiraled as did their demands from the lake. And a new type of mafia was born - the 'Prawn Mafia'.
In 2000, in order to restore the imbalance in the salt & sweet water in Chilika, a goverment aided agency 'Chilika Development Authority' (CDA) decided to open an Artificial Sea Mouth some 5-6 kms from the natural sea mouth that had closed due to siltation.
The sand barrier was broken and the sea had now found a new way into the lake. This was the first time such an experiment had taken place anywhere on the earth.
Slowly, strange changes started taking place in Chilika's ecology.
The current of her water increased; poisonous fishes from the bay of bengal started entering the lake; 'chaari', the grass in Chilika where prawn seeds take shelter from the sea currents to grow, decreased ; many commercial species of fishes vanished ...
After an initial rise in prawn & fish production voices of protest from both the eastern & the western coast of Chilika became louder & clearer. But to no avial ...
The fishemen slowly started turning into tourist guides, auto drivers, motorboat drivers ... Now the only way to sustain themselves and their families is tourism ... or illegal prawn culture.
On 1 Aug 2008 the Sea, this time without any human assistance, broke open more of the fragile sand barrier separating Chilika from the Bay of Bengal. The fishermen of Chilika have been constantly living with this fear since the artificial sea mouth was made.
"The sea will some day devour Chilika"
These lines are echoed in virtually every fisher village near the sea. The waves this time heigher that any other time in the history of the lake have sent out a threat ... is anybody listening?
{For more on Chilika: 'Chilika Bank$: Stories from India's Largest Coastal Lake 1970-2007', an award winning film on the ecological & sociological changes in Lake Chilika over the past 4 decades - visit www.synclinefilmstore.com}
Images from Asia's Largest Brackish Water Lake
Chilika Lake is India's largest coastal lake - famous for its breathtaking beauty, vast expanse & its prawns. In the 1970s Chilika's Tiger prawn started being exported to Japan, US, UK & some other European countries. Many changes have taken place in the lake since the '70s. With the export came the 'dollar'. With the 'dollar' came a change in the value of the lake for the fisherfolk. She was no longer just a 'provider of food'; now, she also meant 'money'.
By the late 1980s Chilika was overfished.
The export had boomed and now was on the decline.
Many forests alongside the rivers that merged with the sea water in Chilika were had been cut. The rivers carried the silt with them and deposited it in the Sea Mouth that let the sea water into the lake. Chilika's brackish water - a fine balance of the salt water from the sea & fresh water from the lake - was slowly turning into a fresh water system. Its unique biodiversity was threatned.
By the late 1980s Chilika was overfished.
The export had boomed and now was on the decline.
Many forests alongside the rivers that merged with the sea water in Chilika were had been cut. The rivers carried the silt with them and deposited it in the Sea Mouth that let the sea water into the lake. Chilika's brackish water - a fine balance of the salt water from the sea & fresh water from the lake - was slowly turning into a fresh water system. Its unique biodiversity was threatned.
Meanwhile, since the prawns in the lake were now too few to be exported, they started being 'Farmed'. Prawn Culture - declared illegal by the Supreme Court of India in 1996 -
became the way for the people in Chilika to survive and cater to their ever growing need & greed. The farmers from the surrounding villages too jumped into prawn farming. Many parts of the lake were occupied illegally and prawns seeds, caught from the sea mouth, were farmed there for export. This caused further degradation in the environment of the lake.
Chilika's people too were affected - fights between the fishermen & the farmers (non-fishermen) became common. In every village country-made guns & bombs could be found. Violence & mistrust spiraled as did their demands from the lake. And a new type of mafia was born - the 'Prawn Mafia'.
In 2000, in order to restore the imbalance in the salt & sweet water in Chilika, a goverment aided agency 'Chilika Development Authority' (CDA) decided to open an Artificial Sea Mouth some 5-6 kms from the natural sea mouth that had closed due to siltation.
The sand barrier was broken and the sea had now found a new way into the lake. This was the first time such an experiment had taken place anywhere on the earth.
Slowly, strange changes started taking place in Chilika's ecology.
The current of her water increased; poisonous fishes from the bay of bengal started entering the lake; 'chaari', the grass in Chilika where prawn seeds take shelter from the sea currents to grow, decreased ; many commercial species of fishes vanished ...
After an initial rise in prawn & fish production voices of protest from both the eastern & the western coast of Chilika became louder & clearer. But to no avial ...
The fishemen slowly started turning into tourist guides, auto drivers, motorboat drivers ... Now the only way to sustain themselves and their families is tourism ... or illegal prawn culture.
On 1 Aug 2008 the Sea, this time without any human assistance, broke open more of the fragile sand barrier separating Chilika from the Bay of Bengal. The fishermen of Chilika have been constantly living with this fear since the artificial sea mouth was made.
"The sea will some day devour Chilika"
These lines are echoed in virtually every fisher village near the sea. The waves this time heigher that any other time in the history of the lake have sent out a threat ... is anybody listening?
{For more on Chilika: 'Chilika Bank$: Stories from India's Largest Coastal Lake 1970-2007', an award winning film on the ecological & sociological changes in Lake Chilika over the past 4 decades - visit www.synclinefilmstore.com}
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