INDIANANGLER

Hey everyone.

Just wanted to share what i saw with all you people. I had gone along with my friends to Morbhe Dam near Karjat for some fishing. We reached Morbhe around 8.30. While we were getting to our spot we heard some explosions and thought maybe there might be blasting going on in the mountains for roads or anything else. We reached our spot at morning 9 and were going on till 11 catching some small fishes but no big ones. That's when a gang of local villagers came along. It was at this time that we came to know what was going on.
These innocent looking villagers were armed with dynamites. Dude isn't that illegal was the first reaction. But we continued looking on. We were already in waist deep water and had been laying lures around for quite some time now and being unable to catch any biggies. Hey that worked for them though These people asked us to step out of the water and stand on the rocks. They filled dynamite in a desi daru glass bottle, lit it and threw it in water. BOOOOOOOOOMM !!!! !!!!!!!

There was a huge bang. Then they jumped in the water in about 30 secs and dived down where the dynamite exploded. That's where the big fish were. What shocked me most is that the fish were not dead. The fish were like zapped, paralyzed, stunned. The smaller fish came up and were floating but were still alive. I touched a couple of these stunned fishes and found them to be still alive. These smaller fish had been so shocked that it looked like they had a heart attack. Sadly, I continued looking on what they were doing. They caught about 30-40 small fish, 4-5 medium sized fish. They came out and started for the next spot, ruining my spot. Curiously i followed with a friend along with them to see how many more times these folks were going to do blast around. I learned from them dynamite is cheap They get 5 dynamite's for Rs.150. Which makes them get enough food for their 5 families. Now for more statics. There were 9 groups who were doing the same thing around the dam, which makes about 45 dynamites being thrown in water everyday. This water is meant for drinking. It's a sad thing as these people will not stop doing it cause its just too much fun in it for them to stop plus the food factor. 1 started and rest followed.

Is their a law against it ? Can i do something ? Please share your views.


Amod Ghatpande

This happens all over the country. The next time you see it try and get a video. There might be a chance that some news channel will broadcast it and make it into an issue (free sale of explosives).

The better but painstakingly long way is to try and educate the people.

Amod,

There certainly is a law against dynamiting for fish.
But the concerned authorities turn a blind eye for various reasons.
It is sad such dynamiting takes place in most parts of the country.

As ken says, if you manage to take a video and get the famous channels to telecast it, it should have an impact. Probably. But then after taking the video make sure you donot venture into the same fishing spot for a long long time

Ravi

Hey,

I am going there again this Saturday for some more fishing so will take my sony camera and definitely record the dyna fishing that the locals keep on doing.

I had caught 2 medium fishes yestarday. One was a ghol (Eeel) and the second was some local fish i dunno the name, size was about 6 inches. Will post images soon. Heard from the locals that the deep water hosts some really big fish which never turn up in shallow waters and i saw what they meant. I was in a boat of some local villagers who were passing by to matheran base. I gave them some chai pani to get me and a friend into the deep waters for better luck. We were carrying a cast net along which we wanted to try. While we were there we saw what they were saying. A biiiig fish came to the surface in the deep took a breathe or took something from the surface and went down. The shockwave created by this fish was so huge that i understood what they meant The cast net didn't work as the bottom was too deep. Tried using a spinner there but my spinner had lost its shine which was resulting in my failure. So will go there again with a new spinner and better lures

Will share the dynamite video once i get it.
Thanks for the support, i will try to educate the locals to my best.

Amod Ghatpande

Same situation here in Pakistan, however the Dynamite is not that cheep.

Sorry people, wasen't able to get the video as it got too dangerous. As i tried recording on the cam the locals protested. So had to abort. Didn't try it again that day as didn't want to loose camera

Its dangerous. Its not about the price for the dynamite, but who's hand it falls into. Could be dangerous in the wrong hands. That's all.

As Ali bhai said "God Bless all"

Will try to get the video some time later.

Amod Ghatpande