06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

Bhitarkanika
i. Wild Bioresourees
The wild bioresources have been classified under
different headings from a user point of view.These
are: Food/feed; Fodder, Firewood, Timber; House
construction; Bioactive-medicinal products; NTFP/
NWTP/MFP;Potential Genetic Resources; Microbes
and ornamentals. The study tries to describe all
the above categories from information gathered
through literature survey and interviews with
local villagers and officials.
a. Food : Fish:
Brackish and marine resources are the basis of
livelihoods of many families. Fishing is done for
household consumption as well as for a means of
earning money. Information given in the following
paragraphs is based on the work of Mishra (2000)
in which he concludes that fishing is the most
profitable activity in this area.
In Bhitarkanika area every household uses the
mangrove forest with its creeks for fishing. The
women catch fish with smaller round nets. The fish
catch by women varies from 2 kg to 20 kg per day.
People owning small boats called 'nonga' (rowing
boats) catch fish from 5 kg to 100 kg per day and
sell it for a price of Rs. 15/- to Rs. 40/- per kg.
People owning larger motor boats called the
'But/mH' catch more fish as they can go further
into deeper waters (within the sanctuary area)
and three quintals of fish are caught daily. A
minimum of 6 labourers are required to catch fish.
Butbuti is also used for transportation purpose.
Where road transport is less, people travel by
these boats across the river. They earn Rs. 250/per
day using the boats for transporting people.
People owning 'trawlers' go deeper into the sea to
catch fish. Each trip into the sea is for a minimum
of four days. Each trawler is worth Rs. 10 lakh.
Each trip requires 7 labourers and expenditure
per trip is Rs. 1,500/- on labour and diesel. Their
catch varies from a minimum of 5 quintals to a
maximum of 70 quintals per trip. The nets of the
trawlers sweep the floor of the sea and catch all
fish that come across the net.
People also set nets across the larger rivers. They
set these nets every day during high tide and
remove it before low tide sets in. The net is nearly
15 feet long and catches all types of fishes. The
fish that are not marketable are dried and sold in
Berhampur, Sambalpur, Chandbali and Cuttack.
The season for dry fish processing is from
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December to May.The dried fish is bought by small
businessmen from this area and sold to far away
places.
Ports and Fish-landing stations
Some important ports and fish landing stations in
and around Bhitarkanika area are described
below. (Chaddha and Kar 1999)
• Dhamra-Chandbali port Dhamra was
recognized as a port by the then Government
and a notice was issued to the fact in the month
of May, 1858 and the Chandbali on 28 th March,
1881. There was a regular steamer service to
this Chandbali port till the outbreak of World
War II. Shipping activities picked up again and
rice and paddy was exported. People used to
depend for basic necessities like salt, cottonyam,
kerosene, spices, tobacco, etc. on this port
and the export items included rice, paddy, jute
and black gram.
In 1934,in shipping terms there were only four feet
of soundings below chart datum. Due to very few
vessels coming here and poor maintenance, the
shipping activity became practically nil and now
Phamra and Chandbali have turned to be fishing
harbours besides some transport of paddy.
A large number of fishing trawlers operate from
Phamra and the catch is sent to Calcutta.
Facilities like cold storage, fish canning, etc. are
available .besides a metalled road to Calcutta-
Madras Highway. The Government of Orissa has
announced the development of a major port at
Dhamra in collaboration with International
Seaports Ltd.
• Talehua : Talchua is a fish landing center
constructed on the Southern side of
Kalibhanjadia island at a distance of about 3
km. from Dhamra Port. This project was started
in 1994 and attracted lot of controversy
worldwide since it is inside the Bhitarkanika
Sanctuary and any increase in number of
fishing vessels from this center will have
adverse effect on the olive ridley sea turtles.
The fish landing center is constructed at a cost
of Rs. 84.94 lakhs and comprises of query of
length 65 meters, a fish drying yard, a packing
and auction hall as well as provisions for fresh
water and repair of nets. This center will cater
to the needs of about 9000 fishermen and about
90 trawlers and mechanized boats are proposed
to use this base.