The Ganga River| Fishermen| Availability of Fish| Poor Water Quality| Dams, Barrages and Waterways| Livelihood of Fishermen
The Ganga River provides livelihoods to large numbers of fishermen. The availability of fish also means that the water of the Ganga has good amount of oxygen and has less pollution. The dams, barrages and waterways are harming Ganga by killing the fishes and leading to poor water quality. These activities are also harming the economy by killing the livelihoods of the fishermen.
Fishermen catching fishes: Photo by Shankar S.
Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute| Barrackpore Kolkata| Fish Catch from Ganga| CIFRI Report| Decreasing Fisheries|
A report on the status of fisheries on the Ganga by Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute Barrackpore, Kolkata says that “over the year fishes catch per kilometre stretch in the river has declined significantly and species composition has changed more in favour of non-major carp and miscellaneous.”
Decreasing fisheries at Allahabad (CIFRI Report)
Graphical Representation of Fish Catch| Irrigation Barrages| Migration of Fishes| Hilsa Fish| Bihar| Mahseer Fish| Upper Himalayas| Spawning Areas of Fish| Kanpur| Narora| Bijnor| Pashulok Barrage| Bheemgoda Barrage|
A graphical representation showing the decreasing fish catch at Allahabad from 1955 to 2004 is given below:
Graphical Representation Of Decreasing Fish Catches (CIFRI Report)
Irrigation Barrages harm the fisheries in two ways. One, the removal of large amounts of water for irrigation leaves little water in the river and to the killing of the fishes. Two, the barrages create an obstruction to migration of fishes. Certain prized fishes of the Ganga ecosystem migrate upstream to lay eggs. The Hilsa migrates from the Mouths of the Ganga to upstream sweet water in Bihar to lay eggs. The Mahseer migrates from the foothills to the Upper Himalayas to lay eggs. The Dams and Barrages create a wall that the fishes cannot cross leading to they not reaching their spawning areas and to their becoming weak. A petition filed in the National Green Tribunal thus stated: “The abstraction of water by the barrages at Kanpur, Narora and Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh, the Pashulok barrage and Bheemgoda barrage in Uttarakhand has caused reduction in the water flow which disturbs the river continuity and leads to habitat destruction.” here (point 6.1, Para – 1)
No wonder, the numbers of fishermen is declining. A Report “Eco Scan” by A.K. Prabhakar and S.P. Roy shows the decreasing fisheries in Ganga River by decades. here.{page 2,table 1 & 2}.
National Green Tribunal| Hydro Projects| Supreme Court| Government of India| Removal of Barrages| Clean Ganga|
The gains from the use of water from the Ganga for irrigation are at least partly cancelled by the loss of fisheries. A Petition was filed in the National Green Tribunal seeking compensation from the Department of Irrigation for the loss of fisheries. The National Green Tribunal dismissed the petition saying that these were old projects and compensation could not be claimed at the present. An appeal is pending in the Supreme Court now.
We request the Government to make a dispassionate assessment of the loss of environment and economy due to the dams and barrages. The fact that the Government is not willing to undertake such a study lends credence to the possibility that the dams and barrages are not economically viable. We should, therefore, consider the removal of all barrages so that livelihoods of the fishermen are saved and Ganga will also be clean due to large numbers of fishes.
