Blog of activities (Mumbai)

I will post in this thread a blog about my activities in Mumbai. If you want more information, just post here and ask your questions. :)

So I went to a local fish market today, purchased the amazing "Bombay duck" a type of lizard fish .. got like 10lbs of the fresh fish for a whopping $3. LOL.

Then spent the better part of the evening cleaning and cutting them, while watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

Every time I found a shrimp or a larger fish in the stomach of the fish I was cleaning, my mom would come running to see it. It was fun. :) And I learnt that the lizard fish is actually cannibalistic.

It was an experience to go through the busy crowded market, haggle over the price and buy it. One thing I learnt: we went shopping around 9:00pm, about the time the street vendors want to start wrapping things up... and they were ready to give it away for much cheaper prices if we purchased in bulk.

Also, on a sadder note: I was very horrified to see the size of the fishes on sale. I remember 16 years ago, when I was last here, the size of the fishes were pretty large.. like a Pomfret was roughly 5 lbs or so, now they are a few ounces at the most, I doubt if they are even 1/2 lb in weight. The crabs were also very small.

What was also disturbing that the number of vendors selling fish had dwindled by almost 90%. What used to be a whole block of street vendors, now has a mere 3 sellers, that too with rather limited choices.

I am concerned, if the fish are being hauled out at a young age, and are not allowed to grow and reproduce, then that will deplete the resources.

I saw a documentary on National Geographic about how conservationists have educated the fisher folks in Somalia about the dangers of over fishing, it seems like there is no such effort being done here in India...