Shifting Currents

The recent surge of hilsa from Gujarat into Bengal's markets is being read by many as a curious twist of climate.

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In truth, it is something far more revealing: a convergence of ecological stress, political fracture and climatic volatility that is quietly redrawing India's food geography.For generations, Bengal's relationship with hilsa was anchored in two sources ~ its own rivers and the Padma in Bangladesh. That equilibrium has broken down. In West Bengal, river systems are increasingly inhospitable to migratory fish. Barrages, pollution, siltation and shrinking freshwater flows have disrupted breeding cycles, while necessary conservation bans have reduced local landings. The result is a steady thinning of the fish that once defined the monsoon.