Arrival of palla downstream Kotri delights fishermen

HYDERABAD: Fishermen of Railo Mayan, located close to the famous picnic resort Al-Manzar, Jamshoro looked jubilant as they caught the delicious palla. It is a sign of earning a better livelihood. These fishermen stay in the River Indus the whole the day, harvesting their nets and pulling them out after every two-three hours.
Fatah Mallah, who stood near his boat anchored at the river bank, hopes to catch more palla this season. Presently, at least 60 boats with 250 crew members are operating at Railo Mayan to catch palla.
Otherwise, he said in June and July, due to the breeding season, all fish hibernate and may not appear till the mid of August.
A 25 feet boat with three crew members is enough for harvesting pallah, whereas for other fish, at least five-six crew members are needed due to the larger nets.
According to Fatah Mallah, each fisherman earns Rs500-1,500 daily for catching palla in a trip. One boat catches palla valuing not more than Rs5,000—7,000 daily. In case they catch more, they are happy, he added.
Recalling the past, he said they used to catch more than 50-80kg on each boat in a single trip and earned a better living. But for the last 30 years they face ups and downs in their source of living because of the receding river water.
About the quality of the nets, he said they used to make cotton nets manually, but now they buy readymade nets from the market. Nets for catching palla cost Rs4,500, whereas for other fish, the nets cost anywhere between Rs250,000 and Rs300,000.
Fatah said that due to the declining fish, many of the community workers from Railo Mayan have moved to Balochistan’s Damb and Sonmayani jetties.
They stay there the entire year, except when they receive news about the streaming of the river Indus. That is when they return.
Fatah has three sons, and has been associated with this profession for generations. He leads 60 workers of the community from Railo Mayan to work in Damb, where they earn Rs25,000 to Rs30,000 per month. It is enough to send back to families.
The fishermen say palla is a sensitive species and swims in to full water for breeding in the months of June and July. Then in the mid of September, when the river water gets cold, it moves back to the marine waters.
However, the lower stream in the River Indus is not fit for its breeding.
Palla travels 150 kilometres to reach Kotri downstream. Only Khobar Creek near Kharo Chhan, Thatta is the main route of Palla to swim upstream to the river water during the monsoon season, June, July, and August.
“This year, some influential people have blocked the creek, and they are harvesting palla using destructive nets, because of which the fish rarely moves to Kotri.”
Although last year, there was an effective move against the destructive ‘boolo and gujjo’ nets by the government authorities, this year, the government officials are reluctant.
At least 300,000 families reside along both the sides of the river from Kotri downstream to Kharo Chhan, the tail-end area where the river water falls in to feed the creeks.
Fishermen said there are 62 mayans (local jetties) from Railo Mayan, Kotri to Kharo Chhan Tarr, where the fishermen families catch palla. Each mayan possesses 40 to 50 small fishing boats, which use traditional nets to catch fish.
Recalling the River Indus flood 2010, they said it brought more palla and several other fish, a few they had never seen in the river. After that, this is the first time this amount of palla has reached the creeks.