Four nets and one stellar idea

Vishnu Hegdersquos wisdom of the seas precedes both his 62yearlong life journey and the hair on his head that is dyed jetblack A member of Mumbairsquos indigenous fishing community the Kolis he lives in Patil Gully a few metres away from the Versova Jetty Hegde is nothing short of the fabled Sinbad the Sailor who knew the course of the ocean like the back of his handAs a child he plunged into the sea with a fishing net to catch a lobster or two Experience from then taught him about the formation of rocks where to find the most diverse marine species what the tidal waves say about the weather and everything in between that modernday GPS fails to catchFisherman Vishnu Hegde 62 with wife Vanita at his Patil Gully home Struggling with financial losses due to dwindling fresh catch and ocean pollution Hegde says he tapped into traditional wisdom of a net installation to trap plastic wasteUnlike Sinbad who encountered monsters in the magical realm of night time stories Hegde and his ilk who inhabit the shoreline of Mumbai have had only monstrous heaps of trash to wrestle Sometimes there is no fish to catch in the sea He says once a scooter rode the waves towards the shore Another time a mattress and couch were vomited by the oceanldquoMere bachpan mein khadi creek aese tha jaise soney ka anda dene wali murgi Sab log mazey mein the kaam karne mein bhi maza tha Ab na machhi haina maza Bas kachhrardquo he says poeticallyThe installation at Kavtya Khadi which managed to trap 500 kg of waste in three days Pics courtesyMinistry of Mumbairsquos MagicThis writer and midday photojournalist Shadab Khan meet him on a breezy Thursday morning when the sun and rain are playing hide and seek As he walks us along the shoreline he searches for tracts of sand not interlaced with solid wasteThis stretch is one of several in the city where creeks are spilling over with industrial waste oil and refill and domestic trash It is not just marine life that is dyingFishermen installing the specially modified nets earlier in JuneWith it the fishing community is also struggling to survive and hold on to its traditional means of livelihoodDays of lament and thought he says suddenly led to a breakthrough one day ldquoKyun na macchi pakadne wala jaal se plastic nikaleinrdquoJai and Ketaki Bhadgaonkar in white held several community dicsussions with the Kolis to understand their plastic problem Pics courtesyBombay61 StudioItrsquos this simple idea of ldquonetting plasticrdquo that was the genesis of New Catch in Town a pilot project fronted by urban solutions think tank Bombay 61 Studio the youthled collective Ministry of Mumbairsquos Magic MMM and research entity Tapestry Together the three outfits over barely three days in June hauled out 500 kg of trash from the Kavtya Khadi in Versova At the core of the experiment says Hegde was Koli wisdomKavtya Khadi sits 20 minutes away from the Versova Jetty by motor boat Surrounded by wasteladen mangroves it is not approachable by foot The first sketch of the installation envisioned by fisherman Vishnu Hedge right Members of Versovabased Bombay61 Studio met representatives from the Koli community for the New Catch in Town pilot project at Kavtya creek Pics courtesyBombay61 StudioldquoThe idea struck us in 2016 when the Versova beach cleanup was underway With the COVID19 pandemic we lost a lot of time so effectively it took us three years to develop the ideardquo says architect Ketaki Bhadgaonkar who cofounded Bombay61 Studio with husband Jai in 2013 Long interested in the fishing community and its wrestle with urbanisation the Bhadgaonkars had held workshops to explore ways to help the cityrsquos koliwadas or shoreline tenements survive In 2020 they in collaboration with MMM and hosted by the Heritage Lab held a photo exhibition Titled Through the Eyes of the Kolis A reflection on Mumbairsquos past present and future the exhibit presented painstakingly sourced archival photos of and from the Kolis between the 1950s and the 2000s Post the pandemic seven to eight hours of daily work went into surveys and research that would lead to New Catch in Town including identifying the appropriate creek to launch this experimentThe design was mine After endless sleepless nights I was able to put pen to paper and draw the first sketch of how the fishing net could be modified to the right size and thicknessrdquo declares Hegde a selftaught artistFour nets of 20feet each were made by a team of six fishermen under his guidance The final design he adds is inspired by the dol or dhola funnelshaped nets Dol netting refers to the popular passive technique of fishing practiced extensively in North West India especially Gujarat Made of thicker material with a weave finer than the regular one these nets took five days to modifyTwo nets were placed on the left side of the marsh in Kavtya Khadi and another two diagonally on the right side leaving space for boats to manoeuvre between The mouth of the nets were wider than usual Bamboo steel pipes and a conical shaped metal fixture that went eight feet inside the rock bed held the installation in place against strong winds the tidal force and the weight of the that would swing into itNew Catch in Townrsquos uniqueness lies in its adaptability Since this is rooted in traditional knowledge and uses local resources it can be replicated anywhere thinks Harpreet Bhullar from MMM ldquoPlus it is costeffective Imagine the results if we scale up the project with the collaboration of various other stakeholders including government agencies We could catch around 5000 kg of waste in just a month from one creekrdquoIn 1668 the East India Company had come into possession of seven islandsmdashBombay Mazagaon Parel Mahim Worli Little ColabaOld Womanrsquos Island and Colaba There were three massive breaches or inlet between these through which the sea gushed through during high tide The area also had four major riversmdashDahisar Poisar Oshiwara and Mithimdashflowing through its numerous creeksAn application by Mumbaibased environment group Vanashakti to the National Green Tribunal NGT earlier in December 2018 had said that around 80000 to 110000 kg of plastic waste is dumped into Mumbairsquos drains and water channels every day This increased fish mortality in areas that were once rich sites for breedingHedge backs this claim Until a few years ago hersquod set out to sea at 3 am in his trawler Once there he would stand at the edge of the vessel and pray to the folk deity Vetal Dev for a good day at work Back at his Patil Gully home Hedge shows us the scene depicted on paper using finetip colour pensHe speaks of how the waters then would gift him abundant pomfret surmai paala lembur lobster boi kekda or crab rawas kolambi or prawn and nevta Now he manages to land only boi prawn and crab in the creeks ldquoWe would earn Rs 20000 to Rs 25000 a month from the fish he caught and I sold in the marketrdquo says Hedgersquos wife VanitaDressed in an ornate blue and gold saree in the run up to the Krishna Janmashtami celebrations in the Koliwada she shows us the box and basket she uses to hawk fish ldquoWe now manage Rs 3000 to Rs 4000 on a good day Some days we get nothing For the last 15 days we sat at home waiting for a miracle He has been going to the sea but the heavy wind and the plastic hazard has not helpedrdquo she saysTheir neighbour Bhaichandra Paosul says the trick is to visit the creeks during high tide ldquoThis is when clean seawater flows in bringing fish with it During low tide the creek is flooded with sewage and industrial waste from areas around There is not even enough water for us to take out our boats at that timerdquoHegde and his neighbours jumping in to find a solution say experts will go a long way in making sustainable solutions to beat the ill effects of urbanisation IIT Bombay engineer Himanshu Thakkar is coordinator for South Asia Network on Dams Rivers and People SANDRP He explains that when a section of society picks up an activity like cleaning of water bodies they develop a stake in preventing destructive activities ldquoSuch initiatives are imperative The more locals get involved the greater the chances of saving our water bodiesrdquo he says The next step should be for such initiatives to receive recognition and support from the government with the administration involving local stakeholders and citizens during the framing and execution of policiesVersova Koliwada is a thriving village with 80000 residents located along the Malad creek It is one of the largest indigenous community settlements along this creek directly dependent on it But since marine supplies have diminished they are opting for deep sea fishing which makes this employment option financially unviableIn 2009 Hegde bought four trawlers investing close to Rs 12 lakh The biggest was 60 feet high while the mediumsized measured 32 feet Five years ago he sold these for R3 lakh after having borne a heavy loss that he estimates at around R80 lakh He also parted with three of the kholis rooms he owned and settled for a smaller one where he and Vanita could live now that their daughter Shrishti is married a few houses awayHegde now fishes in a mediumsized engine boat that is 22 feet large While he would bag a catch worth an annual sum of Rs 15R2s lakh now itrsquos down to Rs 80000 Only about 30 per cent of the original fish supply is now in the waterrdquoGopal Jhaveri is an environment activist and member of the Aam Aadmi Party in Mumbai Famous for his initiative River March he has managed to front the collection of 80000 kg of plastic from Sanjay Gandhi National Park in 2011 Jhaveri lauds the efforts of the Koli community but adds that such projects need to extend beyond the realm of a nonprofit and require strong government involvement ldquoIt is the duty of the government to not let plastic waste enter the drains rivers and water bodies of Mumbai There are 600 km of nullahs that open up into the sea in Mumbai During low tide the water in these brings with it plastic to the shore The microplastics get into the fish and then back to citizens via food causing serious health hazards This dumping of plastic waste by all of us on the roads in the forest in the sea should stop and it is the governmentrsquos job to ensure itrdquoB61 Tapestry and MMM plan to engage government agencies here on ldquoWe will be approaching the BMC to discuss the installing of these nets on a larger scalerdquo says Bhadgaonkar hopeful that this could generate employment opportunities for the Kolis who can be actively involved in the making installing and removal of the netsIn the meanwhile residents of koliwadas in Dharavi and Mahul have approached Bombay61 Studio to discuss how they can be part of Next Catch in Town4Number of modified nets used in the installation