The Lost Kolis of Mumbai | Ganesh Nakhawa | TEDxPalmBeachRdWomen
The speaker, Ngoc, details the critical need to save the fisherwoman's role in Mumbai's fishing ecosystem due to pollution, urbanization, and modernization that has marginalized their traditional livelihood. She advocates for creating a women-operated, centralized harbor and supply chain to re-empower fisherwomen and create a stable future for the community. The central struggle is fighting for policy recognition and infrastructure rights against overwhelming urban development pressures. ## Speakers & Context - **Ngoc** — A speaker and apparent advocate working with the fisher community. - **Naquin Volta** — Mentioned as a boat owner and fisherwoman, who was central to the discussion. - **Fisher Community** — Traditional fishing community from Mumbai with several generations of history in fishing. - **Context** — The necessity of elevating the role of fisherwomen, particularly in the context of traditional festivals like Raksha Bandhan, and addressing the decline of their livelihood. ## Theses & Positions - *Woman embodiment* is crucial to modern fisherwoman life, as their involvement is deeply tied to the community's identity. - The core problem is that modernization, population boom, and urbanization have polluted creeks, rendering them unsafe and eliminating the traditional livelihood. - The historic, vital system of fishing (catching, driving, selling, consuming) has collapsed due to external pressures. - The solution requires creating a **parallel cooperative society** and establishing a women-only run fishing harbor to manage supply chains and create value addition. - The immediate need is for policy recognition of fisheries rights, as current government policies neglect the sector. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Woman embodiment** — Used instead of "human empowerment" to describe the importance of fisherwomen's role. - **Creeks** — Historical fishing grounds that are now polluted and unacceptable for fishing activities. - **Parallel cooperative society** — A model being created to bypass official infrastructure failures and centralize the fishing economy. - **Value added** — The process of improving the catch (e.g., through AC counters, temperature-controlled stores) before sale to ensure consumer confidence and better pricing. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Traditional fishing cycles (60s/70s):** Fishing did not extend beyond 5 kilometers of the coastline; nets were used for two hours; fish were used for three purposes: general sale, immediate consumption, and the vital system. - **Modern market flow:** Fish are sold daily at local markets or major centers like Sundaragar Wharf and Shivaji Market, utilizing head-carried baskets. - **Proposed supply chain overhaul:** Linking the 275 fishing villages to a new, central harbor operated by women to bypass middlemen, traders, and suppliers. - **Policy Advocacy:** Lobbies targeting government bodies like MMRDA and PWD to incorporate fisheries into broader urban development policies. ## Timeline & Sequence - **Historically:** Fishing was a joint effort between men and women, operating in a stable, integrated system over centuries. - **Modern period (Post-decline):** The activity moved to local markets, but the integral supply chain collapsed due to pollution and urbanization. - **2015 (Speaker's Involvement):** Speaker became actively involved in analyzing the crisis. - **Pre-meeting:** The speaker initially expected 20-25 women to attend a meeting but saw over 400 highly enthusiastic fisherwomen. - **Upcoming:** A major harbor project is anticipated in Karanji, and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra visited the Parranda Harbor facility previously. - **Policy Horizon:** Reference to a draft policy expected by **2029** (National Marine Fisheries Policy). ## Named Entities - **Mumbai** — The central metropolitan area containing the fishing villages. - **Mora** — A small fishing village mentioned. - **Sundaragar Wharf** — A major local market for selling fish. - **Shivaji Markets** — A large market mentioned for fish sales. - **Mumbai Airport** — An area that has taken away 14 fishing villages from creeks. - **Parranda Harbor** — A specific harbor facility visited by the Chief Minister. - **MMRDA, PWD** — Government authorities being approached for policy changes. - **Ratra Guinea, parallel districts** — Areas where fisherwomen have attempted to establish alternative livelihoods like oyster, mussel, and crab farming. ## Numbers & Data - Number of generations involved in fishing: **Seven**. - Percentage of marketing activity done by women: **94%**. - Percentage of fish cleaning activity done by women: **84%**. - Total number of villages connected: **275**. - Number of active members in the speaker's initial cooperative analysis: **6,000**. - Number of fisherwomen initially found in the cooperative: **3,000**. - Number of villages affected by Mumbai Airport: **14**. - Scale of protest: **5,000 to 10,000** people on the Maidan. - Percentage of ocean space that is governmentally recognized for the fisher community: **Zero** (or unaddressed). ## Examples & Cases - **The basket:** The symbolic loss of the "gold" associated with the fisherwoman's basket; currently, only the physical baskets are seen on her head. - **Early fishing grounds:** Fishing was historically limited to areas within **5 kilometers** of the coastline. - **The failure of institutional inclusion:** Despite 70 years of activity within a corporation, *not a single fisherwoman meeting* was held to address their specific problems. - **Livelihood Shift:** The shift from a balanced system (catching, selling, consuming) to one where the supply chain is broken. - **Modern waste:** The lack of budget, cleanliness, water facility, disposal facility, and waste management in current fish markets. ## Tools, Tech & Products - **Basket** — Traditional implement carried on the head; symbolized the former wealth of the industry. - **Fishing Boats/Logs** — Used in historical fishing practices. - **AC Counters/Temperature metal stores** — Proposed infrastructure additions for value addition at the new harbor. - **Insulated vans/iced herbs** — Types of equipment the fisherwomen could receive funding for via the Blue Ocean initiative. ## References Cited - **Raksha Bandhan** — A festival that traditionally requires praying to the sea only after first praying to sisters/mothers, highlighting the feminine role. - **National Marine Fisheries Policy and Management** — A policy draft expected by **2029** that could provide funding (Blue Ocean funds). ## Counterarguments & Caveats - **The Livelihood Gap:** The biggest threat is the structural lack of policy recognition for fishing communities in national development frameworks. - **Land Ownership:** Fishermen and fisherwomen do not own the land, unlike farmers, making it difficult to negotiate rights for traditional habitats like creeks. - **Internal Resistance:** The speaker faced resistance within her own cooperative society during elections because some members feared the parallel cooperative society would take away their jobs. ## Methodology - **Analysis:** Analyzing the systemic breakdown of the fish market and fisherwoman's role. - **Gathering Support:** Organizing and mobilizing over 400 fisherwomen in a single meeting to demonstrate collective will for a new harbor. - **Protesting:** Organizing protests on the Maidan to raise demands regarding the status of fishing rights. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - The immediate goal is to establish a **women-only operated fishing harbor** to rebuild the supply chain. - A secondary, long-term goal is to create policies that treat fishing rights comparably to land-based farming rights. - Advocacy efforts must continue to get the government to recognize and fund fisheries through policies like the National Marine Fisheries Policy. ## Implications & Consequences - **Loss of Autonomy:** Without dedicated infrastructure and policy, the community is highly vulnerable to development pressure and land grabs. - **Economic Opportunity:** Establishing a modern, centralized system could bring "ten thousand new opportunities" in the Karanji harbor area. - **Future Hope:** Creating a structured supply chain allows for better pricing and stabilizes the economy for the younger generation. ## Verbatim Moments - *"I am a syringe Alicia fisherman and the every last man in my family was a fisherman."* - *"We don't pray to sea unless we tie Rakhi from them."* - *"The gold is gone."* - *"The livelihood was to catch the fish to drive the fish who take that fish who the markets to save that speech for the future consumption."* - *"If I own the board my fish was sold by fisher woman only... there was no middleman there were no traders there were no suppliers there is no exporters nothing."* - *"The problem was both the fishermen and Fisher woman as well on the soil infrastructure as well."* - *"We want to create a big project to link up fishermen to the fisherwoman."* - *"We don't have policy to fish in our waters."* - *"We've been fighting for these smaller issues so if the home is lost everything will be lost."*