Traditional Fishers in the Sundarban Tiger Reserve A study on livelihood practice under protected area Study supported by International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action DISHA 20/4, Sil Lane. Kolkata – 700 015 Phone: 91-33-2329 7662, FAX: 91-33-23283989, e-mail:
[email protected] 2009 This study is dedicated to the small fishers who are struggling for their fishing rights and upkeep of the fish stock in the difficult waters of STR. We are shocked at the untimely and unfortunate death of Sri Shekhar Mondal, a fisher and a respondent of the survey undertaken for the present study. Shekhar was returning from a fishing sortie in the waters of Sundarban Tiger Reserve in the morning of 22nd December 2008 when dense fog made navigation almost impossible and his boat got stuck in the shallows. He and other crews of the boat tried to push back the boat into deeper waters getting down in the shallow. It was then that the tiger suddenly emerging from the dense fog pounced on Shekhar and took him away in a whiz. His remains, if any, are yet to be located or recovered. Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action (DISHA) 1 The Team Pradip Chatterjee : Chief Investigator Nilambar Bhuinya : Survey Data Collector and Data Manager. Shyamal Mondal : Survey Field Manager. Acknowledgement We are thankful to the members of fishing community in Sundarban who cooperated with us during interviews and have enlightened this study with their perceptions. We are thankful to Sri Harekrishna Debnath, Ms.