Smita Adhikari
Pokhara, Oct. 8: Monsoon this year is almost over and the climate here in Pokhara, the city of lakes, is amazingly pleasant. It looks like this enticing weather is inviting the most joyous festivals.
At a time when the people of the city are busy preparing for celebration of the greatest festival, Dashain, local fishermen are worried about their livelihood.
Unabated growth of water hyacinths in Fewa and other lakes is posing to be a major hindrance to the livelihood of fishermen families.
With a sharp decline in the number of fish in Fewa Lake due to rapid growth of water hyacinth (Jalkumbhi), local fishermen (Jalaries) are busy cleaning the lake to revive their income.
According to the local fishermen, accumulation of the invasive water plant is making fishing difficult, as it is impossible for them to berth their boats.
The accumulation of Jalkumbhi and a large amount of mud and silt in the water body has prevented propagation of water life.
Owing to this, a large number of fishermen are seen removing hyacinth, collecting it in their boats and throwing it at the edge of lakes.
Removal of Jalkumbhi is necessary for fishing, said the local fishermen, adding that hence they had initiated a campaign on their own.
It has been their daily routine for last one and a half months and they don’t know how long the task would take.
"Maybe it will take one and a half months more to remove all Jalkumbhi," Rajendra Jalari of Begnas Lake said, adding that this year heavy rainfall and ensuing floods had entered the lake.
According to the Jalaries, every year after the end of the monsoon they have to spend almost a month to clean up the lake.
This year they have been working seven hours daily to clean the lake and none of them are paid for this.
"As others are busy preparing for Dashain and other festivals ahead, we are busy cleaning the lake, not just to ease fishing but also to host the tourists by maintaining its beauty," said Gyan Bahadur Jalari while removing Jalkumbi from Fewa Lake.
According to him, the meagre budget allocated by the concerned authorities for the campaign was insufficient. “No serious initiatives have been taken for the conservation of lakes,” he said.
He assumed that this might be because local fishermen were self-motivated to clean the lake free of cost since the time of their forefathers.
In Begnas Lake, there is an obligatory provision to allocate a labour from each household of Jalari to clean the lake. This rule was executed by the local 'Begnas Fishing Committee' almost one and a half decades ago.
As per the rule, the local fishermen have started the campaign since 2 September 2020 and they have targeted to continue until the lake is cleaned completely.
For this, all 42 houses of Jalari community around Begnas Lake have been employed. They are not getting any remuneration except for one time lunch daily.
This Committee itself has been providing the food. "For this, the committee has been spending almost Rs. 200,000 for their lunch.”
“Every year, we deposit certain percentage of our income in the committee so that it can be used in all these works,” Chair of the Committee Rajendra Jalari said.
Almost 1,000 Jalaris from 150 households around Pokhara directly depend on fishing for their livelihood.
Rajendra said the reason why they were motivated to clean up the lake themselves was that the wavy plant cut their fishing net and damaged it.
According to them, the Jill Net that is used for fishing costs at least Rs. 5,000.