Tamil Nadu women fish neck-deep in the river

DW (English)

Women in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu catch prawns by hand in the Kosasthalaiyar River. Their harvesting methods cause minimal harm to the environment, but fly ash and pollution from nearby factories make their strenuous job even harder.

Transcript

00:00Every morning, these fisherwomen from North Tamil Nadu walk barefoot for about an hour

00:11to reach their fishing spot.

00:13All they carry with them is a bottle of water and a palmyra bag for their catchment.

00:18Even though this has been their routine for decades, Rubhavati says a lot has changed

00:22in this landscape.

00:2525 years ago the river was fine, it's now in such a bad condition and our entire livelihood

00:30is gone.

00:31Rubhavati is referring to the 136-kilometre-long Kosisthalaya River.

00:36It flows through two South Indian states and its river basin spans an area of over 3,700

00:42square kilometres.

00:44Are you finding any fish today?

00:48Whether you do or not, it doesn't matter, we've got to be here.

00:54Water from the river's Pondi reservoir flows through the Thiruvallu district where

00:58the village Senganimedu is present, before discharging into the Bay of Bengal.

01:03These women are known for their unique ability to catch different types of fish and crustaceans

01:08with just their hands.

01:10Jyothi demonstrates how they catch prawns on a daily basis.

01:15When we push the water in this direction, the prawns go down due to the pressure.

01:19Once they've settled, we catch them.

01:22For the past few years, we've been returning empty, we only get a handful, there's no

01:30possibility of getting the same amount anymore.

01:33This place has changed a lot.

01:37This sentiment is shared by many fishing communities here.

01:41Once famous for its rich biodiversity, the Ennore-Manali region has been heavily reclassified

01:46by the Tamil Nadu government to allow for petrochemicals and coal-based industries.

01:50Today, there are more than 90 highly polluting industries here.

01:55The most prominent of them is the state-owned North Chennai Thermal Power Station, which

01:59has been accused of releasing fly ash, a toxic by-product created during the burning of coal,

02:05into the Kozhastalaya river.

02:08Since it's illegal to dump or dispose of fly ash on land or into water bodies in India,

02:14the North Chennai Thermal Power Station is supposed to transport it to the nearest thousand-acre

02:18ash pond.

02:20We reached out to both the state electricity board and the pollution control board to understand

02:24how something this toxic ends up in the river, but they refused to comment on the matter.

02:30So we reached out to writer and researcher Nithyanand Jayaraman, who has extensively

02:34studied this region and investigates and reports on abuses of the environment and human rights.

02:40The fly ash that has been taken from this power plant through pipelines has leaked all

02:44the time and has again destroyed about 1,000 acres of the river.

02:49The backwaters that so many communities depend upon.

02:52Now this entire supply chain of devastation is invisible to the people who are doing this.

03:00The Metro site court ordered that the pipelines be replaced in 1996.

03:05This order has been repeated in 2017 and 2022, but the work has not been completed yet.

03:11As a result, fly ash continues to leak into the river and cause harm to human health and

03:17non-human life forms, crucial to sustaining livelihoods.

03:23Rubhavati demonstrates how the fly ash has destroyed the natural habitat for prawns.

03:29The prawns would just sit on the sand here.

03:33Because of the fly ash, they're unable to get a good grip.

03:36They float away in the water.

03:38We used to get so many prawns, but nowadays even getting one is difficult.

03:44Over time, the fly ash has fundamentally altered this region's natural landscape of wetlands,

03:50agriculture fields, mangroves and salt pans.

03:53To make matters worse, the plant is also accused of releasing heated water used as a coolant

03:58into the river, which negatively affects the aquatic life.

04:03The warmer temperature of the water doesn't suit us.

04:06We feel faint and our vision blurs.

04:08If we can't handle it, no wonder the fish and prawns are dying.

04:14The prawns are dying.

04:23After spending half a day, their palmyra bag turns up almost empty.

04:28To have something to sell at the end of the day, they collect these clams.

04:33This saves us on most days.

04:36They fill their palmyra bags with these clams and make their way back home.

04:40I'll wait for you over on the other shore.

04:48While numerous communities like this are suffering due to the rapid industrialisation,

04:53it's also the people living about 50km away in Chennai.

04:57Some of the consequences they face include experiencing heatwaves more intensely

05:02and rapid depletion of groundwater.

05:04But there's one consequence that makes it to the news every year without fail,

05:09and that's flooding.

05:13We have increased the built-up area and reduced the capacity of the rivers to carry floodwaters.

05:18Ennore has been subject to more than 3,000 acres has been taken over for industrial development.

05:25And the river's ability to store the floodwater and then release it slowly through the small river mouth

05:30has been compromised because you have affected the storage capacity.

05:34Because the river is not what it used to be.

05:38Back in the village, Rubhavati has been breaking these clams for nearly two hours.

05:43Yet, she hasn't been able to make a profit despite the time and effort that goes into it.

05:49I sat down to open these at around 2pm.

05:53I just sold two glasses to someone for 50 rupees a glass,

05:56and I've given that 100 rupees to my mother to go to the store to buy rice.

06:02Meanwhile, Jyothi is preparing dinner with the handful of prawns she managed to catch.

06:07She says they're unable to repay large loans, which ends up taking a toll on their mental health.

06:13Since the interest keeps accumulating, we're unable to repay it on time.

06:19I feel bad that we're not able to make enough to pay back our loans.

06:24These women are probably the last generation to continue this practice of fishing.

06:29So, what happens now?

06:31There are a few activism groups and individuals who have spoken out,

06:35filed cases in court, and worked on educating the public to protect this region.

06:40We took off our masks and gave it to them.

06:43One of them is Nithyanand and his team from the Coastal Resource Centre,

06:47who put together a people's plan for eco-restoration of Ennore wetlands

06:51that focuses on the relationship people share with their environment.

06:55Remediating the wetland will mean that the life of the wetland comes back to it.

07:01And if that happens, there will be money in every household inside

07:05that depends on the river.

07:06Across the globe, communities that closely depend on their environment,

07:10like these prawn catchers, deserve justice.

07:13Going forward, we need to include everybody's voices,

07:16especially those who are marginalized while developing a region.

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