Kumbhar Priyanka Pandurang

LA4007

Dahanu is a narrow transect between northern western ghats and the Arabian sea, where two communities reside: the fishermen and warlis. The fisherman community depends on the sea and the wetlands of the coastal tidal lands for their livelihood. As the climatic changes affecting the sea are inevitable, the inland fishery has a greater potential of reviving the traditional ecological knowledge and practices. This traditional knowledge system of the community is fading, due to which communities are drifting away from their roots. The aim of reviving Khazan lands is to bring back artisanal fishing in the inland water as well as to conserve and revitalize the degraded systems of intertidal wetlands. The traditional inland fishing practice will promote the conservation of associated knowledge systems and skills of the fisherman community. These rooted in the landscape and sustainable practices will also help revive the ecologically degraded inland- intertidal ecosystem and habitat. This in return will benefit the communities back by regenerating the lost species of fish and seasonal flora. Returning to artisanal fishing will also act as a supporting livelihood in times of distress and cyclonic shifts ensuring confirmed cycles of livelihood.