Vrutti’s Intervention with Mumbai’s Fishing Communities
Vrutti’s Intervention with Mumbai’s Fishing Communities
Author : Nihal Kumar, Pratham Misal, Ronak Kothari
December 12, 2025
For centuries, Mumbai’s Koli people, often referred to as the ‘city’s original inhabitant’, have
lived along the city’s shores, shaping their lives around the sea. Koliwadas, or traditional fishing
villages, dot the coastline, and fishing boats have long returned to docks such as Sassoon,
Versova, and Manori with daily catches of bangda (mackerel), urmai (kingfish), pomfret,
prawns and more. Today, roughly 40,000 women operate as fish vendors in Mumbai, handling
about 70 percent of all post-harvest activity in the trade. In this matriarchal community,
women traditionally manage finances and sales, while men are at sea.
However, rapid urban growth has rendered the Kolis a shrinking minority in the sprawling
metropolis. Large-scale projects, such as Mumbai’s coastal road development and rising
concrete walls, have encroached large swathes of the littoral zone. Yet, small fishing boats
continue to ply Mumbai’s bays every dawn, bearing witness to a way of life that endures even
as climate change, economic pressures, and city planning makes it increasingly precarious.
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