Fishers in Kerala's Kollam district are protesting the Union government's decision to allow offshore mining, fearing it will deplete fish stocks and threaten their livelihoods.
The auction of mineral blocks for extraction is set for August 2025, raising concerns about environmental impacts and the sustainability of sand dredging practices.
“We have not learned any other skill. The cost of living is already high. How are we going to stay afloat if mining depletes our fish catch?” asks Tagore Letlas, a fisher from Kerala’s Thangassery village. He is one of several fishers in seaside villages of Kollam district protesting the Union government’s decision to allow offshore mining along the coastline.
In November 2024, the Union Minister of Coal and Mines announced the auction of mineral blocks in the offshore areas of Gujarat, Andaman and Nicobar islands and Kerala for extraction of lime mud, polymetallic nodules and sand, respectively, marking India’s entry into offshore mining. According to the website of the Union Ministry of Mines, the tentative date of auction is August 22, 2025.
Since the announcement, Kollam, where the offshore mining for sand is planned, has seen several protests by fishers, including a day-night demonstration at the Kollam port on February 22, where hundreds of fishers participated. Sand is the most used natural resource in the world, after water. Construction of a house requires roughly 200 tonnes of sand while every kilometre of highway needs 30,000 tonnes of the resource. In India, the main sources of sand are river floodplains, coastal areas and agricultural fields. However, the government considers offshore sand as a “sustainable” source for the construction sector, which could help the country reduce its dependence on land-based sources, according to a document released by the Union Ministry of Mines on January 11 this year.
Extraction of offshore sand requires dredging vessels, which scoop sediments from the bottom of the sea and transport them to the shore. These can be suction dredges, which vacuum up unconsolidated material, or bucket dredges, which drag huge receptacles along the sea floor. However, this extraction removes sediments that house seafloor organisms and their habitat, potentially resulting in local extinctions and changes in species’ composition. A 2022 study in Trends in Ecology & Evolution states that dredging can stir up sediments, causing sand plumes that spread to other locations, increasing water turbidity and smothering organisms. Plumes can degrade water quality and potentially release harmful substances from the sediments and disturb marine organisms …
This article was originally published in the August 1-15, 2025 print edition of Down To Earth