Muzamil Bhat

Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

Editor

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“This
is the sixth day I will be going home without a single fish,” says Abdul Raheem
Kawa, standing on the banks of Wular Lake. The 65-year-old fisherman
lives here with his wife and son in their single-storey home. 

Located
in the Kani Bathi area of Bandipore district, and fed by river Jhelum and the
Madhumati stream, Wular is the only source of livelihood for the people who
live around it – roughly 18 villages each with at least 100 households who live
on its banks. 

“Fishing
is the only source of livelihood,” Abdul says. But “there is no water in the
lake. We can wade through the water now because, in the corners, it has come
down to only four or five feet,” he says, pointing to the edges.  

He
would know – a third-generation fisherman, Abdul has been fishing in this lake
in north Kashmir for 40 years. “My father would take me along with him when I
was a child. By watching him, I learnt how to fish,” he says. Abdul’s son has
also followed the family occupation.  

Every
morning, Abdul and his fellow fishermen make their way to Wular and row out
into the lake with their zaal – a net
they have woven with nylon thread. Throwing the net into the waters, they
sometimes play a handmade drum to attract their catch.

Wular is the largest fresh water lake in India, but in the last
four years, pollution in the waters of Wular has made it almost impossible to
fish all year round. “Earlier, we would catch fish for at least six months in a
year. But now we only fish in March and April,” says Abdul.

The
main source of pollution here is the
waste carried by Jhelum, the river that flows through Srinagar, accumulating
the city’s waste along the way. The lake, which was designated as a “wetland of
international importance” in the 1990 <a href="https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/461?language=en">Ramsar Convention</a> has now become a
cesspool of sewage, industrial runoff and horticultural waste. “I remember the
water level at the center of the lake used to be 40-60 feet which has now reduced
to just 8-10 feet,” the fisherman says. 

His
memory serves him right. A <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151453/shrinking-lakes-of-the-kashmir-valley#:~:text=In%20a%202022%20study%2C%20researchers,response%20to%20land%20cover%20change">2022 study</a> by  the Indian Space Research Organization
revealed that the lake has shrunk by a quarter between 2008 and 2019.

Even
seven or eight years ago, Abdul says, he caught two kinds of gaad (fish) – kashmiri and panjeab, the
local word for all things non-Kashmiri. He would sell his catch to contractors
in the Wular Market. The fish from Wular fed people across Kashmir, including
Srinagar. 

“When
there was water in the lake, I would earn up to 1,000 [rupees] catching and selling
fish,” Abdul says, “now, on a good day, I earn three hundred [rupees].” If the
catch is small, he doesn’t bother to sell and instead takes it home for their
own consumption. 

Pollution
and low levels of water has led to a decline in the population of fish in the
lake and fishermen are turning to other livelihood options such as collecting
and selling water chestnuts between November and February. These are also sold
to local contractors for around 30-40 rupees a kilo. 

This film tells the story of pollution in the
Wular Lake and the fishermen who are losing out on their livelihoods because of
it.

In Kashmir: a lake no more

కశ్మీర్‌లో కనుమరుగైపోతోన్న సరస్సు

காஷ்மீரில் அழிந்து போன நதி

ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ : ਕਿਵੇਂ ਪਹੁੰਚਦੀ ਹੈ ਇੱਕ ਝੀਲ਼ ਆਪਣੇ ਅੰਤਮ ਸਾਹਾਂ 'ਤੇ!

କାଶ୍ମୀର: ଆଉ ନାହିଁ ସେହି ହ୍ରଦ

आता हे सरोवर राहिले नाही

കശ്മീരിൽ - ഇല്ലാതാവുന്ന ഒരു തടാകം

ಕಾಶ್ಮೀರ: ಕಣ್ಮರೆಯಾದ ಕೆರೆ

કાશ્મીરમાં: એ સરોવર હવે સરોવર રહ્યું નથી

गंदगी मं बूड़गे कश्मीर के वुलर झील

वुलर अब पहिलका वुलर ना रहल!

কাশ্মীর: একটি হ্রদের অপমৃত্যু

কাশ্মীৰত এটা হ্ৰদৰ অকাল মৃত্যু

कश्मीर: घुट-घुट के मरती एक झील की सदा

کشمیر میں دم توڑتی وولر جھیل کی آپ بیتی

Bandipore

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In Kashmir: a lake no more

In India's largest freshwater body – Wular Lake – pollution has led to a sharp fall in the water level and a decline in the population of fish. Fishermen whose livelihoods depend upon this lake are finding it difficult to make a good catch

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