PORTS OF PLUNDER: Honnavar Fisherfolk Struggle Against the Corporate Capture
The coastal town of Honnavar, Karnataka, has recently become a battleground between the local fisherfolk and a state-backed private port company called Honnavar Ports Private Limited (HPPL). On February 24th, this year, thousands of men, women, children, and elders staged a sit-in protest over the proposed construction of a private port at Kasarkod beach, in Honnavar against HPPL. The sit-in was met with severe police brutality where over 100 protestors were arrested. Over 50 demonstrators waded into the water, attempting mass suicide in desperation, three women collapsed due to heat exhaustion, one required medical care, one woman protester suffered serious trauma leading to a severe mental health crisis. A young girl warned to leave a note threatening to jump into the sea, holding the state Fisheries Minister accountable for the devastation. On February 25, police, under Section 163 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), were deployed to escort officials conducting land surveys for a road connecting the port to NH69. 81 houses were marked for demolition. 24 protestors including all the main leaders were jailed for 24 days to get the land surveyed. The entire fishing community struck work for a week targeting the fisheries ministry demanding their release.
“To stop the mining Mafia and stop the loot of natural resources and make suitable changes to mining laws.”
–Promise under the Mining, Forest & Environment Protection section, Karnataka Election Manifesto 2023, Indian National Congress
Protests against this project were on since 2012. The current Fisheries Minister Mankala S Vaidya was a local independent MLA candidate, who earlier supported the movement but betrayed the people after becoming an MLA and joined the Congress. During the BJP’s regime, even DK Shivakumar declared there that locals should not leave an ‘inch of land’ for the port. As of now, both the BJP and the Congress have clearly sided with HPPL exposing their role as pro-capitalist, anti-people parties. Despite Honnavar being an RSS-dominated region of coastal Karnataka, their true colours got exposed as they did not stand by the people.
Minor Ports Development Policy 2014
In 2013, the government notified new port limits for all minor ports followed by the Karnataka Minor Ports Development Policy (2014) which aimed at developing commercial and private ports through public-private partnership. Then, in 2015, the Karnataka Maritime Board Act was enacted, paving the way for private investment, and in 2018, the Karnataka Maritime Board was empowered to oversee the sector. These policy changes are designed perfectly to align with the grand project to integrate Karnataka’s economy with global trade by promoting international ports enabling cheap transportation of mineral ores, by enabling aggressive privatisation of coastal land and ecologically sensitive areas. The Honnavar project is just one of the many instances where government policies have prioritised profits over people.
The people’s concerns raised in public hearing and Gram Sabhas were repeatedly dismissed and their land, livelihood, and fragile ecosystem were sold off to the corporate giants by both the state and the union governments. The HPPL is a subsidiary of GVPR Engineers Ltd., which is carrying out mining in Bellary with no prior experience of port construction. The primary purpose of the port is thus to enable cheap international transport for different mineral ores coming from mines. To make this happen, two co-ordinated projects have been declared -the port by HPPL and a road to connect the port to the highway by union government’s National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). This 200-crore road project is fully funded by the Modi government to facilitate the private port. Even a 300m long stretch of forest land has been cleared for this road. The task of Siddaramaiah government is to ensure the eviction of people for a smooth construction of both the port and the roadway.
The Composition of the Affected Community
6,000 families rely on fishing here and the port poses an existential crisis, threatening their primary source of employment, mass displacement, and destitution. In Honnavar, over 23,500 fisher folk, many of who are women engaged in fish trading, drying, and selling, stand to lose their only source of income. The Tonka market and local fish trade infrastructure face complete collapse, with the potential mass displacement of around 60,000 people.
We observed that the Kasarkod fisherfolk community is divided into various sections of the people involved in different strata of the fishing activity like - Persian Boat owners, trolley boat owners, fresh fish traders, dry fish traders, petty Fishers, boat workers, fish dryer workers, loader workers and boxing workers. Clearly, it is a class-divided society with people who can be broadly classified into business owners, workers and petty fisherfolks. While we visited the Tonka village and the Kasarkod fish harbour for the purpose of fact finding with a team consisting of members of AICCTU, PUCL and Fridays for Future, we noticed that the entire community irrespective of the class they belong to, has unanimously rejected the idea of the HPPL port in the area.
Thus Spake…
Sripad Sheth, a boat owner and a part of Persian Boat Malikara (Owners) Sangha says “The port will ruin our business completely. There will be no place for our business if the port comes to Honnavar. If there is no place to park our boats and no place for the fisher people to go for fishing, then there is no place for me either. I have owned the boat for the last 8 years. I have taken loans from the bank for the boat, and I have to return them.”
Susheela, 45, a small fisher said “When the dry fish sheds were demolished, that is when we found out that we will soon be affected… My livelihood is to dry the fish. There are people in our community itself who buy the fish after we dried them. I also purchase fresh fish from the boats and sell them after drying… On February 25, around 40-45 of us - men, women and even children - went in to the water till the water reached our hips. The police came to bring us out of the water. We knew that it was better to die than to lose our land and livelihood. We don’t know any work other than this. It will be a big problem. We cannot rebuild our homes and our lives from the scratch.”
Ganapathy Tandel, 41, a fish trader said “If you remove our houses, what happens to the people’s development, their livelihood, education? We fisherfolk, don’t know any other work. The authorities gave no information about rehabilitation or any guarantee of our future.”
Rajesh Govind Tandel, 47, President of Karavali Menugarara Karmikara Sangha who has been at the forefront of the movement said, “in 2016, some 32 dry fish sheds were demolished. 2000 fisherwomen who were using the sheds lost their livelihood.” He was certain that the port will take away not only their land but also their livelihood.
GH Suleiman, 41, a worker in the fish harbor said, “in 2010, we knew something was coming up, but never knew that it would impact us. We only realised after they built a compound wall after demolishing the dry fish sheds in 2014. Since then, for more than 10 years, Hindu and Muslim fishermen are unitedly protesting against the port.” Tamim, 20, a student says “I was never involved in protests before. But I wanted to go and stand with my friends and family for the sake of our land and livelihood.”
In addition to these, all the people including different sections of workers and traders we spoke to in the fishing harbour and village were unanimously against the port because they think that it will take away their land and livelihood. Moreover, they unitedly stuck work for an entire week to demand release of their 24 comrades lodged in Dharwad jail after the 24th February protests.
Despite most leaders of the movement coming from the business owning class (boat owners or fish traders), the workers and the petty fishers stood united behind them, went to jail with them and faced police repression. It is very clear to the entire community that not only would they lose their land due to these “developmental” activities, they will surely lose their livelihood too. It is to be noted that the entire population of Tonka 1 and Tonka 2 villages are directly dependent on fishing activities.
The fisherfolk community were never so united like this. It has become a reality in the course of the movement against the port. Raju Tandel, General Secretary of Karavali Meenugarara Karmikara Sangha, an organization at the forefront of the struggle, explains that previously there was only one fishers’ organization in the area named Karavali Meenugarara Sangha. Now, if a fishing boat catches fish worth Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 58,000 would go to the boat owner, Rs. 35,000 will go to the workers and Rs. 7,000 goes to the boat manager. In 2009, the workers’ share was only 30%. There were strikes and protests against the boat owners to increase workers share to 40%. After negotiation, this share got increased to the current level (that is, 35%). Around that time, there were communal tensions also between the Hindu and Muslim fisherfolk communities. All these factors led to the split of Karavali Meenugarara Sangha into 4 organizations - Karavali Meenugarara Karmikara Sangha, Persian Boat Malikara Sangha, Trolley boat Malikara Sangha and Hasi Meenu Vyapari Sangha. Now, against this port construction, all these organizations are united again under a joint banner of Meenugarara Horata Okkutta with Rajesh Govind Tandel as the President. Rajesh Govind Tandel is also the President of Karavali Meenugarara Karmikara Sangha. All these four organizations are led by boat owners or fish traders and are in the forefront of the movement.
People’s Struggles: An Antidote to Communal Division
In the face of impending doom, the class-divided fishing community of boat-owners, traders, fishmongers, workers, fishers, etc. has come together against HPPL and the state. As a result the wrath of the state was unleashed on them by the police. The communal cracks that existed among them, thanks to RSS’s decades long efforts, are now erased to make them stand united in the face of the state-sponsored attacks. This is a good lesson that only united people’s struggle can play the role of an effective antidote to the politics of hate.
Environmental Impact
Although the district administration, the HPPL Project Manager, Superintendent of Police, Director of Ports have been repeatedly saying that the livelihood of the fisherfolk will not be affected due to the port, why are the people so convinced with the opposite? To get an answer to this question, we interviewed Prof. Ramachandra Bhatta as part of the fact finding. We interviewed him because he is a leading expert in this field as a fisheries economist (he served as Professor at College of Fisheries, Mangalore and as a Head of Social science division at National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai and then as Senior Consultant and Emeritus Professor in Indian Council of Agricultural Research) and is also connected to Kasarkod by virtue of being a President of the Sneha Kunja Trust, which runs a charitable hospital in the area.
On asking the reason why this port is detrimental to the locals, Prof. R.C. Bhatta explained that the proposed development in Honnavar threatens both the livelihood of the fisherfolk and the ecological balance of the region. Honnavar lies within an estuarine ecosystem—one of the most productive ecosystems globally—and the port is being planned right in the estuary of the Sharavathi River. Small-scale fishers who rely on these waters will be completely displaced if the project goes ahead.
A key concern is the construction of breakwaters on both the northern and southern sides of the proposed port. Drawing from experiences along the west coast, Prof. Bhatta pointed out that natural sediment movement—mostly from north to south—will be disrupted. This disruption typically leads to erosion of the southern coastline. Villages like Tonka and Kasarkod, home to many fishing families, are likely to be severely affected, with the very land they live on potentially disappearing due to halted sand replenishment. Similar scenarios have already unfolded in places like Padubidri and Someshwar-Ullal.
Explaining the sediment dynamics in more detail, Prof. Bhatta said that the river naturally brings and takes sand with wave action, maintaining a balance along the shore. However, breakwaters obstruct this cycle. Without the natural replenishment of sand, the southern coast begins to erode, and the fisherfolk living there face the direct threat of losing both land and livelihood.
The ecological stakes are just as high. The Sharavathi estuary is home to a variety of fish, including prized estuarine species, and serves as a nesting ground for the Olive Ridley Turtle, a Schedule I protected species under Indian wildlife law. In addition to impacting marine life and biodiversity, this poses a blow to the region’s eco-tourism potential. Prof. Bhatta also emphasized that the river’s fish productivity has already taken a hit due to upstream damming for hydroelectric projects. Compared to the undammed Aghanashini River, where fish productivity is four times higher, the impact on Sharavathi is evident. Sudden releases of freshwater from the dam alter salinity levels, disturbing the estuarine habitat even further.
Privatisation of Ports and the Loss of Livelihood
When asked why the government is pushing the port project despite a strong opposition, Prof. Bhatta pointed to larger motives. He said that the government aims to privatize ports and create independent supply chains for transporting high-demand resources like coal, iron ore, and manganese. In this rush for industrial gain, the interests and survival of local communities, as well as ecological considerations, are being sidelined.
When asked whether the government has taken any steps to support the fisherfolk and help grow their traditional fishing businesses, Prof. R.C. Bhatta called it a tragic reflection of Indian politics. “Back in the 70s and 80s, nearly 80 to 90% of the fish production came from small-scale fishers,” he said. These are the communities who operate within 12 nautical miles using small boats, often with basic motorized assistance. In Honnavar, this small-scale model thrived thanks to high water quality and clean beaches. The local economy was further supported by women who produced and exported high-quality dry fish—Mackerel, Lactarius, and 30 other varieties—using simple infrastructure and long-standing knowledge systems.
A 44-hectare tract of land, accumulated over decades and lacking formal survey numbers, had become the hub for this dry fish production. It was home to over 2,000 women who worked regularly in processing, transporting, and selling dry fish—an industry that created an organic, community-driven supply chain. But this entire livelihood network came to a grinding halt in 2019, when the land was forcefully handed over by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to the port company HPPL. Fences were erected, access was cut off, and hundreds of women lost their jobs overnight.
According to Prof. Bhatta, the government continues to approach fisheries development from a capital-intensive lens—promoting large harbours and deep-sea mechanized vessels requiring engines of 450–500 horsepower. However, this ignores the scientific fact that over 90% of fish populations are found within the 12-nautical-mile range, precisely where small-scale fishers operate. The nutrient-rich waters along the west coast—fed by rivers from the Western Ghats—are far more productive than the Bay of Bengal. Yet, government schemes like Matsya Sampada remain focused on big investments, with subsidies of ₹50–60 lakh for a ₹1.5 crore vessel, while a dry fish vendor may only receive support for one basket in her entire lifetime.
Prof. Bhatta also flagged the unsustainable nature of over-reliance on export markets. “A large portion of India’s marine export earnings come from shrimp. But with the U.S. imposing tariffs on Indian shrimp, the entire high-capital export-dependent industry is now under threat,” he noted. Unlike the community-based systems that created steady employment, the port project doesn’t even offer figures on job creation. “At most, they might employ 50 to 100 people,” he said, “but the damage is to the livelihoods of thousands. These ports are highly mechanized and don’t require much human labour.” As if the loss of traditional fishing grounds wasn't enough, the ongoing NHAI road construction in the region is adding to the crisis. Out of 113 affected properties, only 18 landholders have formal title deeds or hakku patra. According to Prof. Bhatta, the history of the area goes back several decades. In 1976, Sneha Kunja Trust had bought nearby land from the government when only a few houses existed. The coastal settlement expanded through the 70s and 80s, especially in accrued land formed by natural sand deposits. Today, much of that accrued land lies 30 to 40 feet away from the current high-tide line, but remains legally unrecognized.
While talking to the locals we came to know that many of the families living on the accrued lands today had already been displaced once—from Mallukuruva village, which had eroded into the sea. These are people being displaced again. It’s the same communities, facing loss after loss. Despite their pleas, they haven’t been given legal land titles. As a matter of relief and justice, they should have been allotted small plots officially, but even that hasn’t happened.
Prof. Bhatta noted that to regularize such settlements – “If there’s no survey number, the local Tahsildar can visit the land, assign a number, and legalize it”. “That’s exactly what was done in Padubidri, where six acres of accrued land was surveyed and handed over for the development of a Blue Flag beach.” But, this wasn’t done for the people of Kasarkod.
This ongoing exclusion of traditional coastal communities from land rights and employment opportunities raises deep questions about who benefits from such mega-projects—and at whose cost.
Impact on Wildlife
Ecologically speaking, the port project sits on a fragile sandspit (a narrow point of sandy land projecting into the sea) at the mouth of the Sharavathi River, a rich fish breeding ground, home to dense mangrove forests. The coastline is also a critical nesting site for the endangered Olive Ridley turtles, protected under India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Despite this, the Karnataka High Court dismissed petitions challenging the project, citing flawed environmental reports. Activists argue that the final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report did not adequately address the impact on wildlife. In addition to the Karnataka High Court ruling, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) rejected a petition challenging the construction of the road despite it violating Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms. Moreover, for the recent EIA, the government has exempted HPPL from any public hearing. Despite mounting evidence of environmental violations, authorities continue to push ahead with the project.
A point of contention raised by authorities is the status of the Olive Ridley Turtle nesting grounds. While the fact finding team interviewed the Director of Ports Capt. Swamy, he claimed that the area in question is not a “notified” turtle nesting site. Responding to this claim, Prof. R.C. Bhatta firmly dismissed the argument as baseless. “There is no need for a separate notification,” he said. “The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification already recognizes turtle nesting grounds and mandates their protection. It’s clearly stated in the law. Asking for another notification is simply ridiculous.”
What adds to the frustration is the timing and conduct of the so-called assessments. A team from the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) visited the site in August and reported no evidence of turtle nesting. “That was a farce,” Prof. Bhatta said. “Everyone knows August is the middle of the monsoon—it is not the nesting season. Nesting begins after the monsoon. They deliberately visited at a time when turtles don’t nest, just to produce a report that suits the narrative of the port authorities.”
This deliberate oversight, reflects a broader pattern of dismissing ecological and community knowledge in favour of interests of the Corporates. While official agencies downplay or deny the presence of protected species and the adverse effect of port on the livelihood of the people, the reality on the ground tells a different story—one where both the environment and the people who depend on it are increasingly left without protection.
Experiences Across the Country
It is a well-documented fact that port development in various parts of India has led to disastrous effects on the livelihood of the fisherfolk. Some such studies are as follows.
In Mumbai, the Coastal Road Project (MCRP) has reportedly halved the income and fish catch of traditional fishers, particularly affecting women who catch fish by hand. A Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) study noted a decline in non-mechanised boat owners’ daily catch from 14 kg to 7 kg following the onset of construction in 2018[1]. Similarly, the Vizhinjam International Seaport in Kerala, developed under a public-private partnership with Adani Ports, has led to a drastic reduction in marine biodiversity and fishing yields. The project threatens the wadge bank, a globally significant fish-breeding ground off the coast of Kanyakumari, causing widespread distress and economic insecurity among coastal communities[2][3]. In Odisha, the Dhamra Port project has displaced hundreds of families and restricted traditional fishing access. Fisherfolk, particularly women and children, have lost access to coastal areas essential for fishing, drying fish, and gathering firewood, while marine life disruptions due to dredging have further diminished catches[4]. In Maharashtra’s Palghar district, a Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) survey warns that the proposed Vadhavan Port will affect over 20,800 fisherfolk across 16 villages, making around 72 sq km of current fishing area inaccessible[5]. The Karwar Port expansion in Karnataka also raises concerns about water pollution, habitat destruction, and reduced fish stocks, particularly impacting the Baithkol fishing community. Locals express skepticism about promised economic benefits, fearing job loss and deepening economic inequality[6]. Similarly, along Gujarat’s coastline, port-led industrialization has disrupted fish breeding grounds and migration routes, reduced fish availability, and increased pollution levels. These environmental and economic pressures have made survival increasingly difficult for fishing communities, threatening traditional livelihoods and contributing to social and economic instability[7]. These cases underscore a broader pattern in which coastal infrastructure development proceeds at the expense of the fisherfolk, whose rights and welfare remain neglected in the planning process.
Destruction in the Name of Development
The situation in Honnavar is not an isolated case, but a clear reflection of Karnataka’s broader port development policy—one that is designed to serve the interests of powerful mining and other big corporations under the guise of coastal development. Backed by the central government’s Sagarmala programme and state-level policies, ports are being rapidly constructed along the state’s 320-kilometre coastline, often through public-private partnerships. Other than Honnavar, these include New Mangalore, Keni, Karwar, Belekeri. The Honnavar port is being developed by HPPL which is a subsidiary of a mining company GVPR Engineers Ltd., explicitly to facilitate the export of iron ore and other minerals. Similarly, JSW, one of India’s biggest mining and steel conglomerates, is pushing port projects in Keni and Pavinkurve in Uttara Kannada district, further exposing the direct link between mining interests and port expansion. These developments are threatening coastal ecosystems, displacing traditional livelihoods, and overriding the voices of local communities. While talking to the fact finding team in Karwar, Vikas Tandel, an executive member of the National Fish Worker Forum, Karnataka said “It’s not very far when we won’t be able to see these people fishing, singing and dancing in the coast. Their livelihood, their culture, everything will be wiped away with this port spree.” People are not only resisting the port in Honnavar, but also similar resistances are seen in Keni, Tadadi and Karwar.
Due to this “Development” model in India that enables corporate plunder of natural resources at the expense of ecology and people, land grab and displacement has become the biggest menace affecting the broad masses at this moment. Since 1991, about 15 million farmers have moved out of agriculture, many because the economic system simply does not make farming (including pastoralism, fisheries and forestry) remunerative enough. And 60 million people have been physically displaced by dams, mining, expressways, ports, statues, industries, with mostly poor or no rehabilitation[8]. Meanwhile, exploiting such people desperate for any kind of job, and also nature, an already wealthy minority becomes wealthier by the second. The richest 5% of Indians now earn as much as the remaining 95%. Be it Karwar, Tadadi, Keni, Nagarhole, Devanahalli, Bastar, Niyamgiri, or Hasdeo, or other countless places across the country, the people are facing the carrot and stick policy of the Indian state. We see how conveniently the courts dismiss legal petitions, how environment assessments give free passes to the corporates, how mass arrests and even killings of the local people take place. There are of course variations in levels of militarisation in each of these areas, the common thread however unfortunately remains land grab and an attack on people's life and livelihoods. These attacks on people's autonomy transcends boundaries of states and ruling parties (be it BJP or Congress), making it a national project spearheaded by big corporates. In this project, the state governments, police, paramilitary forces, as well as judiciary have historically been seen as a party against the people's interests. This alliance has played out very well in Honnavar as well.
The Honnavar struggle is not just about one port—it represents a larger contradiction between the broad masses of people and the domestic, big capital backed by imperialism. The capitalist idea of development is development for their own profit; it signals danger to the people and nature. We must stand in solidarity with the communities fighting out this battle on the ground. We must unite and struggle to bring about an alternative, democratic model of development.
[The facts presented in this article are based on a fact-finding mission conducted by a team comprising members of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), and Fridays for Future. A detailed report will be released soon.]
References
[1] “Compensation policy and its implementation plan for project affected fisherfolk of Mumbai Coastal Road Project (South)” by P. K. Shajahan, Swati Banerjee and Sandhya Iyer, TISS
[2] “Fish famine, livelihood loss because of upcoming Vizhinjam port, say fishers of south Kerala” by Supriya Vohra, Mongabay
[3] “Kerala's $65 billion Vizhinjam port: Fishermen, environmentalists rue loss of job, ecology” by Rejimon K, Firstpost
[4] “Socio-economic impact of Dhamra port project on local economy: an assessment” by Kedarsen Sahoo, Indian Journal of Economics and Development, June 2019, Vol 7 (6)
[5] “Vadhavan Port to impact 20,809 fisherfolk in 16 villages: Survey” by Prayag Arora-Desai, Hindustantimes
[6] As Karwar’s Port Expansion Threatens Jobs & Fisheries, Fisherfolk Question ‘Development’ by Disha Shetty, IndiaSpend
[7] "Where have the fish gone?-a study that investigates the impact of coastal industrialisation on the fishworkers of the state of Gujarat", The Research Collective
[8] “Are we listening to the lessons taught in the first year of Covid-19?” by Ashish Kothari Indian Express, April 23, 2021