Salt industries could put an end to ginger prawn fishing in Kutch

Diesel fumes and dust hit as one climbs the Surajbari bridge in the Kutch district of Gujarat. The noise from trucks and trains follows. As the eyes stretch beyond the bridge, there are salt pans – as if a huge wetland has been cut into plots by mud embankments.

On the map, Gujarat looks like an open mouth. Surajbari is the joint where this mouth opens to the Gulf of Kutch and the vast Arabian Sea. A network of creeks here called the Surajbari creeks, join the Gulf of Kutch to the Little Rann of Kutch, a barren salt desert in the state.

A bridge over the creeks, known as the “Gateway to Kutch” connects the industrialised regions of Saurashtra and Kutch, which explains the traffic. The massive 2001 Gujarat earthquake made the first Surajbari bridge unusable. Abandoned and half demolished, it now overlooks two new road bridges and two railway bridges.

A dirt track, off the highway goes to the creeks. The fumes are replaced by a strong fish smell. This is Cherawadi Bandar, once a hotspot of prawn trade in Gujarat. However, the trade of the delicate ginger prawns is declining and locals feel the heat.

“Season mein yahan mela lagta tha,” says Sama Siddik Osman, ex-Sarpanch...

Read more