Limited lake access, pollution leave B’luru fishers in distress

By Ahna Prakash / NT
Bengaluru

Fisherman Anil Gowda earns just Rs 200 for a day’s hard work. He is the sole breadwinner of his five-member family. With the meagre income, the HSR Layout resident cannot afford to pay for his children’s education leave alone providing medical care to his sick wife. Like Gowda, thousands of fisherpeople are living in huge distress in Bengaluru.

Data from Karnataka Fisheries Department states that there are around 10,000 active fishermen in rural and urban Bengaluru. But not all of them can fish in the city lakes as the department leases out the fishing rights to various companies via competitive bidding. This means traditional fishers  have access to a limited number of lakes, such as Ulsuru lake, Ullal Lake, Malathalli Lake and Kengeri Lake.

“I have been a fisherman for the past 15 years. Even if I am not earning much now, I can’t switch my profession as I don’t know anything except this. The business was pretty good a few years ago, but now I can hardly earn Rs 500 a day. I go to catch fish at 5 am, and on certain days, I cannot catch even five fish,” said Nagraj HR, a fisherman who sells fish in Kumbalgodu village, which lies 22 kms south of Bengaluru. He sells his catch to people in the village.

Another major issue they face is the increasing lake pollution and resultant fish kills. According to the Indian Water Portal, except four lakes, all others are severely polluted due to sewage water. The contaminated water leads to the death of flora and fauna in the lakes.

Recently, 100 dead fishes were seen floating in the Bhattarahalli lake in KR Puram. An Indian Institute of Science study titled ‘Wetlands: Treasures of Bangalore (Abused, Polluted, Encroached and Vanishing)’ shows that the primary reason behind these is the flow of untreated sewage water in lakes, which directly impacts the fish availability for the fishers.

Lake activist Jagdish Reddy, founder of Varthur Sising, a citizens collective that works on environmental issues, blamed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for this issue. “They have been delaying the lake rejuvenation work for years. The condition of the lakes is terrible, and there is frothing and fire every year. How is it possible for the fish to survive in the contaminated water?” he asked.