Kaluwa and his friends may have to search for an alternative job if the rivers fall short of fish in coming days. But he is trying his best to save his fishing job by adopting good fishing practices.
KaluwaTharu goes with his friends for fishing in the river every day, after five in the evening. He and his seven friends have been fishing for their livelihood and to sustain their families. Walking a long way through the cottages, Kaluwaand his friends go for fishing in the Geruwa River.
Unlike before, the water level has decreased in the river and number of fishes has dwindled too. Earlier, two thirds of water from Karnali River used to flow in the channel of Geruwa River, but now the Karnali does not flow that way during the winter season. It has drastically decreased the number of fishes, ultimately affecting lives of these fishermen like Kaluwa, who depend on fishing for their living.
Kaluwa used to catch fishes weighing 20-25 kg before, while there were numerous fish weighing up to 10 kg. Now, the fish are found in small quantities and big fish are difficult to catch.
Kaluwa,along with his friends, haul their fishing netsin the evening, as fish are active at that time.After that, they spend the night in the house built on the banks of the river nearby. At night, they set fire with available woods and straws to warm themselves and keep the wild animals away.
“If we hunt fish in the evening, we stay together in a group,” Kaluwa said, “And, when it comes to fishing, two, three of us go together, as we find wild animals during the night.” Sometimes, they are even chased by wild elephants while returninghome from the fishing trip.
It is not that Kaluwa has no desire of earning more by hunting large number of fish using large net-traps, but he is committed to sustain his job, for it is depended on the survival of fish.
“It is not right to catch fish when they start giving eggs,” he said, “Many fish die during the reproduction period, and if we stop fishing at that particular time, the fish population would not decrease.”
Kaluwa and his friends may have to search for an alternative job if the rivers fall short of fish in coming days. He could even opt to go abroad to work like some of his fellow villagers. But Kaluwais trying his best to save his fishing job by adopting good fishing practices.
For this, Kaluwa has started using traditional methods to maintain the number of fish in the river. He has now started to free small fish back to the river and catch only the big ones.
“The fish we kill weigh above 100 grams, and discard small fish below 25 grams,” he said, “On one occasion,I even caught a Sahar fish weighing up to 30 kg.”
According to him, Rohu, Catla and Mrigala are the kinds of fish trapped in their net occasionally. After hauling their net in the evening, they assemble it early in the morning and collect the fish. The KothiyaghatBazaar, a popular market nearby, is their favorite place to sell their fish. Kaluwa goes to this market almost regularly.
By adopting the traditional methods of fishing and releasing the small fish back to the river, the number of fish remain stable.
Kaluwa has well understood this fact. Using fishing techniques like Kaluwa is sustainable than the other destructive methods like using explosives, electric current, poison and big net.
The fishing ideas of Kaluwawould sustainthe number of fish and sustain their profession of fishing that they rely on for their survival.
