A small Indian port threatened by industrial fishing.
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Key indicators
Population
(millions, 1998): 982.2
GNP ($ billions): 427.4
GNP per capita
($): 440
Population below
income poverty line of $1 a day (%): 44.2
Source: UNDP Human
Development Report 2000
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Father Thomas Kocherry has been
catapulted into leading India’s 10-million-strong fishing community in its campaign
against industrial fleets, shrimp farms and coastal pollution
 “The life of the planet and the dependent health and welfare
of humanity must not be sacrificed to the greed of the few,” declared Father Thomas
Kocherry last year on being awarded the Sophie’s Prize, created by Norwegian novelist
Jostein Gaardner, for his environmental work. Famed for his powerful oratory, this
Catholic priest helped to create the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers
in 1997, of which he is now a co-ordinator.
The last ten years have been marked by a series of protests by fisherpeople across
India, in which you have been deeply involved. Why are fishing communities so angry?
In 1991 India introduced its new economic policy, which marked the beginning of a
new deep sea fishing policy. Huge foreign vessels, working under the guise of joint
ventures and fees paid to the government, were given licenses and started coming
into Indian waters. There are some 25,000 such vessels around the world. They have
depleted all the oceans apart from the Indian Ocean, and are a threat to over 100
million people in developing countries who depend on fisheries for their livelihood.
So this new policy was clearly going to affect Indian fisherpeople, and probably
displace them. Ten million fisherpeople went on four all-India strikes. The government
appointed the Murari committee, which made 21 recommendations aimed at changing the
entire deep sea fishing policy. These were accepted by the Cabinet, and since 1996,
the government has stopped giving new licenses. For probably the first time, a fishing
community changed the policy of globalization through protest.
Your movement has also expressed particular concern over shrimp production for
export.
First of all, you have to ask why aquacultures [shrimp farms] exist. It’s because
a particular variety like shrimp, cuttle fish or salmon is already depleted, and
is no longer available in the marine sector. But the very fact that it is a monoculture
means trouble, because it depends on a high use of pesticides and artificial manure.
This pollutes the entire area. Then the paddy-fields, which are meant for the people’s
basic needs, are converted. Then the mangroves are destroyed, though they are the
breeding ground for many species. By bringing in saline water, you pollute the drinking
water meant for local people. The entire development [around 200,000 hectares of
coastal land have been converted into shrimp farms] is displacing coastal people
and fishing communities. And all this intensive aquaculture of shrimps is controlled
by big companies, big investors and big rich people—and funded by the World Bank.
It is a philosophy of rape and run: you make the money fast, then you run away.
In 1996, the Supreme Court ordered all the aquaculture farms in the country to be
abolished. But instead of abolishing them, the government and political parties sided
with the World Bank and multinational companies, and ordered a review of the judgement.
They then introduced a new Aquaculture Authority bill, which is pending approval
by the Upper House of Parliament. Fisherpeople are very angry about this.
How has the experience of Indian fishermen differed from that of other fishing
communities around the world?
Whether in India, the U.S. or Europe, small boats and small communities have no chance
of survival. Everywhere the pattern is the same: only the big will survive, and the
rest will be wiped out.
But globalization’s victims can change the situation. From Senegal to Brazil, from
Canada to South Africa, fisherpeople are struggling against destructive fishing and
the stronghold of multinationals. Local communities should be the custodians of this
natural capital.
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