: How tourism has taken a toll on the livelihoods of fisherfolk in a town in coastal West Bengal #IndiaNEWS As a child, Bablu Shah of Ratanpur village near the coastal tourist town of New Digha in West

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How tourism has taken a toll on the livelihoods of fisherfolk in a town in coastal West Bengal #IndiaNEWS
As a child, Bablu Shah of Ratanpur village near the coastal tourist town of New Digha in West Bengal would spend his time strolling in the agricultural fields with his friends and return home to a sumptuous meal of fish cooked from the fresh catch his father – a fisherman – would bring. Three decades later, his children are living a completely different experience. The agricultural fields have been replaced by concrete hotels and tourism has replaced fishing as the major livelihood source in the area. “My family pursued fishing as a livelihood for generations,� he said. “During my father’s time, there used to be 25 fishing boats in our village, now there are hardly four to five boats.�The story of Bablu Shah, now 41-years-old, resonates with most fisherfolk living in the area. With the rise in tourism activities in the last few decades, coupled with factors like frequent natural disasters, the community is looking beyond its traditional income sources to sustain themselves.Double-edged swordOver the past decade, Digha has emerged as a tourist hotspot for a weekend getaway. In New Digha, for instance, tourism has replaced fishing as the primary source of livelihood. A 2015 study in the town highlights that the locals are getting...Read more

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