Mumbai: Catch that makes lives go ghol ghol

Fisherman in the Vadhvan area of Palghar district, where residents are opposing a proposed commercial port over fears of ecological destruction, last weekend netted a significant catch of the rare and pricey ghol fish.

Three fishermen successfully caught over 200 ghol fish within the designated port area. This particular species holds substantial value, as evidenced by one fisherman earning more than Rs 1.30 crore in 2021 by selling approximately 130 ghol fish. Ghol fish are highly sought after due to the multiple uses of their swim bladder, including beer clarification in the brewing industry, manufacturing dissolvable surgical threads, and being considered a delicacy in China and Japan.

All fishermen from Dhakti Dahanu village visit the Vadhvan offshore area which is considered a golden belt of fishery. On Friday, three fishermen from the village who had gone into the sea were fortunate to catch the ghol fish (Protonibea Diacanthus) a type of black-spotted croaker fish.

Local fisherfolk community with a big catch of ghol fish

Local fishermen told mid-day, "The area has natural capabilities to nurture fish and is an excellent fish breeding and nursing ground because it has natural reef-forming corals."

Fisherman Nikhil Tamore caught 130 ghol fish while Fisherman Anand Ambhire caught 88 ghol fish and Fisherman Tushar Marde got 17 ghol.

Marde told mid-day, "On Monday his two other fisherman friends got 43 and 18 ghol fish. The area is rich in marine life and any development will hurt the livelihood of the fishing community."

Palghar-based marine researcher Bhushan Bhoir said, "Three fishermen from Palghar were fortunate enough to catch a total of 235 ghol fish during their recent fishing tour. The interesting part is that the fish were caught in the area where the government has proposed the Vadhvan Port. The GPS point for ghol lies in the port limits. Which is almost 8 km off the shore from Vadhvan."

"These fishes are declared as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. "In many countries like Australia fishing ghol is restricted during the breeding season, and their breeding areas are protected to ensure successful breeding of the fish," said Bhoir.

"The fish tend to reverse migrate to its breeding ground which happens at a sea depth of 10 to 18 metres where the influx of creek water to these depths influences the fishes to spawn. It's important to protect this breeding ground because, on the west coast, it's the only place where these fishes migrate for breeding. On the east coast, they breed at the mouth of Sundarban Creek where coastal depths are 10 to 15 metres," Bhoir added.

The government wants to set up a multi-cargo port in Dahanu to decongest the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), for which it needs to reclaim land. It is said that the proposed port will be constructed at a distance of around 10 nautical miles off the Dahanu coast, near Vadhvan Point.

Rs 15 lakh
Estimate price of one ghol fish

235
No. of Ghol fish caught