Will state fish status save Maha-fav paplet?

Following fervent appeals by the fishing community to the state and central governments to protect the fastdepleting silver pomfret on Monday the fish was declared the State Fish by Sudhir Mungantiwar state minister for Forests Cultural Affairs and FisheriesMungantiwar invited Chandrakant Tare a fisherman turned banker and chairman of the Satpati Fishermen Sarvoday Sahakari Society Ltd along with other fisherfolk to the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre at Nariman Point for the announcement Tare and and members of the Koli community from Satpati village in Palghar had been appealing to the state and central governments for long to protect the fishMungatiwar told midday that preserving the silver pomfret is at the top of the state governmentrsquos agenda The fish he said is already being promoted under the One Station One Product OSOP scheme an initiative introduced by the Railways as part of the Vocal for Local vision of the Government of India to provide a market for indigenous products and create additional income opportunities for local communitiesldquoThis is an important fish for the fishing community which earns a huge revenue from its export The fishermen have been appealing for it to be declared the lsquostate fishrsquo Since the Union Minister of Fisheries Parshottam Rupala was visiting Mumbai we thought it would be a good time to make the announcementrdquo A GR has been issued in this regard ldquoWork will now begin on the preservation development and marketing of the fishrdquomiddayrsquos reportThe naming of a state fishmdasha first for Maharashtramdashcomes a week after midday on August 27 highlighted how thousands of Koli fishermen living in Satpati home to the Golden belt thatrsquos rich with precious catch were staring at a loss of livelihood as the silver pomfret known as saranga locally was succumbing to unrestrained fishing rampant infrastructure development and a rapidly warming Arabian SeaNot only had the fish haul dropped by nearly 50 per cent in the last few decades it had also shrunk in size with the super pomfret weighing 500 gm and above catch dropping from 146797 kg in 199091 to a staggering 4508 kg in 202223 According to experts the warming ocean has prompted many fish including pomfret to move towards the Gujarat coast and from there on to the coastline near PakistanAlso read Maharashtra RERA puts brakes on new projects in MMRTare who had met Union Minister of Fisheries Parshottam Rupala in Delhi on August 15 to request that saranga be given the status of a State Fish says itrsquos a big win for the fishing community of Satpati Rupala was also present during Mondayrsquos event ldquoParshottamji had assured to look into the demand after consulting with the Maharashtra government We are grateful to him and Mungantiwarji for keeping their promiserdquo he shared over a callHowever he said that their victory will only be sweeter if the state intervenes and works towards the protection of the fish ldquoWe have appealed to the state to extend the ban on fishing during the breeding season from the present 61 days June 1 to July 31 to 75 daysrdquo he said The fishing ban is meant to help the pomfret mature ldquoIt will help them grow to their fullest sizerdquo said Tare He has also urged the state government to look into illegal fishing activities overfishing and a ban on the sale and fishing of juvenile pomfret all of which he says have contributed to the decline in catchDoesnrsquot solve crisisNot everyone feels that declaring the silver pomfret as the state fish will resolve the current crisis that fishermen are reeling under Prof Bhushan Bhoir oceanographer and assistant professor at a suburban college shared a few reservations ldquoI donrsquot think it should have been named the State Fishrdquo he said ldquoThe silver pomfret doesnrsquot have its origins in Maharashtra Itrsquos a fish that was first found in the coastal borders of Gujarat and Daman and Diu on the sandy bedsrdquoHe feels that the bronze croaker which is a pucca local fish deserved this status instead Bhoir who has done research on the marine biodiversity in and around Vadhavan in the Palghar district said that in Maharashtra the silver pomfretrsquos habitat is restricted to the Dahanu and Palghar regions ldquoThatrsquos also where the Vadhavan port is coming up According to reports around 5000 acre of land is to be reclaimed from the sea to build the R65000crore port Historically thatrsquos the area where this fish is being caught If the government has really decided to protect the silver pomfret it also needs to preserve its breeding and feeding places Otherwise it wouldnrsquot make any senserdquo he saidThe silver pomfret however remains an important source of livelihood for the fishing community in the Palghar region Villagers in Satpati earn a revenue of Rs 24 crore from the export and the local sale of the fish Ganesh Nakhawa a seventhgeneration Koli fisherman who runs the popular Instagram handle thelastfishermanofbombay said that going forward the state government should introduce policies that ensure replenishment of the silver pomfret populationldquoNow that itrsquos been declared the fish of the state it shouldnrsquot mean that people see it as a way to eat more of itrdquo he said ldquoThis step has been taken to spread awareness about the fish and preserve its ecosystem Therersquos no way of completely banning the fish from being consumed but the government should introduce policies that are not just focused on the fishermen but also the buyersrdquo According to him the consumption and purchase should be restricted as well ldquoRestaurants should not be allowed to sell silver pomfret at least during the breeding months Only if policies are designed keeping in mind all stakeholders can we resolve the present problemrdquo With inputs from Devanshi Doshi