Blast Fishing at Barak river


With his own handmade Bombs constructed of stainless steel tubes or glass bottles with layers of powdered cartridges and pebbles hurling into the Barak river, this fisher used to catch fish from the river. By doing so, he struggles for survival; earn money for sending his children to school.  For him, Barak river is their main source of livelihood as it fetches him good earning daily.

In fact, the fish caught from this Barak river has a unique taste. It might be due their brought up in the natural stream Barak river. The fish he catches from Barak river are sold to Tamenglong bazar and others.  

 The Underwater shock waves produced by the explosion stun the fish and cause their swim bladders to rupture. This rupturing causes an abrupt loss of buoyancy and a small number of fish float to the water surface. The fish so float to the surface due to explosion are collected by him using fish nets. 

He is from Bamgaijang village of Tamenglong distrct, about 25 km from Tamenglong district HQ, a remote and undeveloped village having no metalled roads, no electricity. The village is motorable only during the dry season. Villagers have to carry patients on make shift stretchers to reach district hospital. Villagers here struggle for survival by selling vegetables, fruit products and fish caught from the Barak river.


three × 3 =

− 3 = 5