Across the world November 21 is celebrated as World Fisheries Day. In India, the fisheries departments consider marine fish or reservoir fish worth talking about. But our rivers are home to nearly a 1000 fish species that provide livelihoods to over 11 million people. A good population of riverine fish are an indication of a healthy, functioning river. The construction of dams have brought catastrophic decline in river habitats and Indian fisheries. Several countries are decommissioning dams based on their impact on fish. The US has decommissioned almost 1,000 dams in the past two decades, to ensure the survival of migrating fish such as salmon and steelheads. A dramatic illustration of this was provided to us at Bonneville Dam, Columbia river, USA in 2011. We were taken to a chamber below the riverbed, where one could see fish climbing a fish ladder, meant to help them get over the dam. In India however, dams make no provision for fish. We visited the Farakka Barrage, on the Ganga in Bengal to study fabled fish lock, that helps the migration of hilsa. The Ganga till the commissioning of Farakka in 1975, had a rich fish diversity and productivity right till Kanpur. Even tributaries such as the Yamuna were remarkably rich. But Farakka destroyed hilsa in the Ganga/Padma. We looked for the fish lock, but engineers and officials said we were mistaken. In Nov 2011, we visited the Narora Barrage on Ganga, which also holds a healthy Dolphin population to see how the fish-pass functions. We saw a trickle flowing down the pass, no fish. Even the Hirakud dam, one of the first dams constructed post-independence; and Mettur Dam, have fish passes though none function. No new studies or remedial measures are being undertaken. New dams are designed and receive clearances without any thought of their impact on fish and fisheries. Dolphins, hilsa, mahseer, snow trouts are some iconic fish, but there are scores of others in our rivers. Dams profoundly impact fisheries but no compensation is given to the fisher folk. This is starkly visible at the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada. When it comes to fish it is not a monochromatic development vs the environment. Like the fish, we also survive on healthy rivers.
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