N R PURA/SHIVAMOGGA: The scarcity of fish in the Bhadra backwaters is causing a lot of distress to the over 500 fisherfolk of Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru districts who solely depend on them for a livelihood. This monsoon, there have been abundant rains, which has resulted in a low fish yield.
This year, the Bhadra catchment area received a heavy rainfall that resulted in the reservoir reaching its maximum water level and accordingly, water level rose in the entire backwaters area. Each year in August, the Fisheries department drops over 15 lakh fishlings into the backwaters of Bhadra that facilitates these fisherfolk to harvest grown-up fish between August and December. “Starting from the beginning of August, we have not got enough fish in the backwaters. With heavy rains coming down in the month, it was very difficult to get into deep waters to fish. Also, overflowing waters took away most of the fish,” said Vasu, a fisherman of the Raurameen camp in N R Pura taluk.
Another fisherman Eerappa said, “Since four to five years, the department authorities has been releasing locally-raised fishlings in the backwaters, the yield of which is very less compared to fishlings that were earlier brought from Andhra Pradesh.