The odour of nooses, fish and slow deaths on a starry night permeated my soul. It took about 30 minutes for each to die. In the soft moon rays, the carps’ scales and droplets reflected ethereal silver. Overhead was the lingering gaze of a waning moon, an “aadhi bindiya ka chand”. In their death throes, as life ebbed, the carps defiantly thumped my thighs with mighty whacks of their tails. Right under me and around my legs were trapped carps in retrieved nets. The small, light boat tilted and swayed nervously on a breezeless night as the fishermen went about the strenuous task of net retrievals. I was moving in a rickety country boat, perched awkwardly between fisherman Raees and his oarsman, Danish. The lake looked ethereal, necklaced with the twinkling lights of the faraway promenade. On Thursday, at 3.45 am, this writer accompanied fishermen to witness the struggles waged at the aquatic LOC of a ghostly Sukhna. Similar carp-thinning exercises were carried out in 20. Till Saturday, 169.77 quintals had been netted over five nights. The fish-thinning and stock-taking operation - conjoined with a research thrust - will continue till March 22. In order to restore ecological balance on the recommendation of fisheries experts, the department of animal husbandry and fisheries auctioned the fishing rights for ₹33 lakh.Įvery night since March 13, a fleet of 17 boats sets out to net the biggies. Under the surface of Sukhna’s opaque waters, the hierarchy of fishes is characterised by the sheer dominance of big and old carps, which outcompete smaller fish species, Benthic invertebrates and particular algae by monopolising food resources. Fisherman Raees with his night catch at Sukhna. They are slippery customers, as wary as nimble deer flushed from a hunt in the jungle. The carps, which weigh up to 15-16 kg each, are not dumb creatures. As the night deepens star by star over the Sukhna lake, a deadly battle gets underway between adept fisherman and agile monster carps.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |