For the past 20 years, Saneesh ML, 39, of Munambam has been earning a livelihood by fishing with a Chinese net near the Munambam estuary. However, since September last year, soon after the devastating floods hit Kerala, life has not been easy for him. Reason: The catch has dwindled to just to a kg. Most importantly, there are no shrimps which used to be a major source of income for fishermen using Chinese nets. Saneesh is not the only one facing tough times. Fishermen who have put up Chinese nets on both sides of the Periyar leading up to the estuary, have been affected, too. Earlier, we used to catch three-four kg of shrimp daily. Post-flood, there are no shrimps to net. The population of other fish varieties has also dwindled. This, in turn, has decreased our revenue from `2,000 per day to just Rs 200-Rs 300 per day, Saneesh said. It is getting tough to meet the daily expenses involved in using the Chinese nets. We have stopped employing other persons as helpers as we cannot afford to pay them a decent wage, he said. Another fisherman said though they had raised the issue with the Fisheries Department authorities in the area, the latter was not able to provide a logical reason for the decline in catch. “We have set up the Chinese net spending Rs 2-Rs3 lakh which was availed as loan. If the scenario persists, we will be in serious debt, the fisherman said. Reasons aplenty Principal scientist at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute K Sunil Mohammed said there could be various reasons behind the decline of shrimps on the particular stretch. Shrimps enter the estuary or freshwater as part of their life cycle. They lay eggs in sea but return to brackish water. After larval development, the newly-settled benthic juveniles migrate back to streams and rivers, he said, adding, the change in the water flow pattern or even the undercurrent after the floods along the estuary may be one of the reasons for the decline. We need a detailed study to ascertain the actual reason for the dwindling shrimp catch and to know whether this is a peculiar phenomenon in this particular stretch. Fishermen on boats out in the sea have reported good catch of shrimps these days, Mohammed said.