Catamaran Fishing (Tamil Nadu – India)

Outstanding Features

The Bay of Bengal lies in the monsoon belt and receives high rainfall. In near-shore areas, the mixing of nutrient rich bottom waters and warm surface waters creates conditions similar to up-welling, the number and of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are likely to increase due to global warming. The input of freshwater and slit impacts the salinity of the coastal and estuarine waters as well as coastal circulation patterns. The waters along the Bay of Bengal coast of India are biologically very productive and possess several unique environmental features. The area of critical biological diversity is the mangrove rich habitat along the coast of Nagapattinam District.

The coastal fishing communities in Sirkali Taluk, Nagapattinam district (Tamil Nadu, India), have survived by their catamaran fishing for centuries. The ancient city of Kaviripoom Pattinam (known as Poombuhar village today) was once a famous harbour mentioned in Tamil literature over 2000 years ago. Catamaran is a light watercraft, which was named from the Tamil language words “kattu” (tie) and “maram” (wood, tree) –meaning “two trees tied together”. It was invented by the “Paravas”, an aristocratic fishing community in the southern coast of Tamil Nadu, south India. Building a catamaran is a community affair in the small fishing villages and a decentralised labour-absorbing activity.

Fishing by catamaran is a traditional way of harvesting marine life without damaging the marine environment and its biodiversity. The sustainability of this traditional fishing practice is extremely important in the view of the fact that India is the world's fourth largest fishing nation, accounting for over 4.39% of the global output. The state of Tamil Nadu in southern India has 1076 km of coastline, is a leading state both in culture and natural fisheries and has emerged as a major exporter of marine products. In Tamil Nadu the marine catches remain a major source of employment, business and revenue. Between 1999 and 2004, about 380,000 tons of marine fish (26 -44 species) have been harvested from the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu.

Goods and Services Provided

The marine ecosystem provides mankind with food, medicines, industrial products and pleasure.

Threats and Challenges

Issues of ecosystem health that are common throughout the region are: environmental stresses on the Bay of Bengal's water quality; the degradation of many of the coral, mangrove, wetland and sea-grass bed habitats that support fisheries; as well as the use of fishing gear that may affect the long-term sustainability of the fishery resources. High levels of pesticides can be found along the coast, especially near cities and ports. The numerous industries, chemical factories and aquaculture farms developing along the coast are already threatening the mangrove forest and marine life in Sirkali Taluk. Some coastal areas serving as nursery grounds for commercially valuable species of prawns are polluted.

Using catamaran for fishing is also threatened by the mechanized boats and technological developments that have been used by commercial fishing operators over the last few decades. Marine capture fisheries have been stagnating in recent years in spite of an increased fishing effort –an indication that over-fishing by commercial mechanized boats is already taking a toll. This is threatening the survival of the poor fishing communities that use traditional catamaran.

The coastal areas of Nagapattinam district were the worst hit areas in India by the tsunami of December 26, 2004: 8000 people lost their lives. Most of the people who died and suffered from the tsunami waves were from poor fishing families.

Policy and Development Relevance

A quarter of the world's population resides in the countries bordering the Bay of Bengal. The high population depends on coastal resources for food and livelihood security. India with its 1 billion humans will require millions of tons of fish to meet minimum protein needs. This puts significant pressure on marine resources. There is an urgent need for long term planning for the conservation and management of the coastal marine resources.

The struck of the tsunami waves was a most prevailing event that awakened the people in the Bay of Bengal region and made clear that the marine ecosystems must be understood in a more holistic sense. It created awareness that the fishing communities should be rebuilt without interfering with the ecological integrity of the coastal marine ecosystem. Community and government agencies have understood that it is important to protect the naturally occurring sand dunes and mangrove forests along the coastal areas and that the ecosystem has to be maintained in a healthy state, if it is to provide people the benefits in a healthy manner. Therefore, local fishermen must be encouraged not to loose their centuries' old cultural heritage of fishing by catamaran, which is now rapidly vanishing due to the development of technology.

Poorer fishing communities using traditional crafts, such as catamaran and thoni without inboard or outboards motors generally blame the lager mechanized boat owners, who conduct trawling, for the decrease in their catch saying that they destroy the fish breeding grounds. Consequently, conflicts between traditional catamaran-fishers and the mechanized trawling fishers have increased in recent years. Hence there is an urgent need for community based sustainable fishery practice and management. An approach enabling the participation of all stakeholders in management decisions and code of conduct enforcement should be undertaken to ensure that people view the shared resources as in their own interest to protect.

Allocating specific fishing areas for the often ignored and poverty-ridden traditional fishing communities where mechanical boats are banned from entering could improve the quality of life by eliminating poverty among the poor fishing communities along the coast and, moreover, save a lot of rare and endangered marine life.

Global Importance

The Bay of Bengal is considered a biological hotspot of marine ecosystems in the world. The practice of catamaran fishing by rural fishermen along the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu is a unique and endangered way of harvesting marine life without damaging the environment. It represents a unique sub-set of Agricultural Biodiversity of Global Significance (ABGS), associated knowledge systems and cultural practices that should be recognised by the international community as a heritage for humankind.

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