Vembanad’s clam sector plumbs new depths Premium

Discover the challenges faced by clam harvesters in Kerala's Vembanad Lake and the declining lime shell industry.

Every day, before the first rays of dawn stretch across the horizon, 54-year-old Sidharthan sets off on a quiet voyage across Vembanad Lake.

From a narrow river mouth in Vechoor, a serene village cradled in the backwaters of Kottayam, he paddles out in his modest canoe. Here, the countless waterbodies converge into the brackish vastness of Kerala’s largest lake.

Equipped with a few metal baskets and a mesh shovel with an adjustable handle, Sidharthan rows steadily past the Thanneermukkom Bund, a man-made barrier that divides the lake into two distinct halves: one holding back brackish water and the other fed by freshwater rivers.

On most days, he rows nearly five kilometres into the lake’s sweeping expanse, scanning the surface for subtle signs of depression on the lakebed. When he spots one, he lowers the shovel and begins sifting through the muddy bottom. For hours, he hoists up basket after basket of small black clams, filling his boat.

Sidharthan turned to the lake as a teenager to support his family. Back then, it was just a clam rake and strong lungs. He would dive into the shallows, groping through the silt and collecting clams with bare hands, holding his breath for minutes underwater. Today, the hand-operated shovel spares him the dives, making the work less punishing and far more efficient. “I’ve been doing this for nearly thirty years, come rain or shine, winter or summer,” he says, guiding his canoe back to shore as the morning sun begins to beat down.

“But you don’t see the abundance we once did,” he rues. It’s just another summer morning on Vembanad, but the shoreline he nears is already baking like an oven.

Behind a thick fringe of trees and tangled undergrowth, the riverbank has transformed into a roaring outdoor kitchen. Smoke billows from firewood hearths. Flames dance under massive iron pots balanced on stone stoves as women prepare to boil the morning’s catch.