Women of the Sea: Palani Kumar Documents the Seaweed Farmers of Tamil Nadu

In 2019, during a fellowship with the People's Archive of Rural India (PARI), M. Palani Kumar, a photographer from Madurai, headed to the sea with seaweed harvesters from Bharathinagar, near Mayakulam village of Thiruppullani block. Seaweed farming refers to the practice of cultivating and harvesting seaweed. A practice common in this region of Tamil Nadu, women take the lead in seaweed farming here. On working days, they are ferried to waters rich in seaweed. With their sarees styled as dhotis and their eyes and feet protected by goggles and rubber slippers respectively, they work in shifts of seven to ten hours in the sea. For many women, this is their only source of livelihood. However, this practice has been greatly impacted by climate change and the overexploitation of this resource over the years.

For many women—many of whom have inherited the job from their mothers and know only seaweed farming—the warming seas, rising water levels and changing weather have been catastrophic to their incomes. Kumar’s photograph of a blurred woman emerging from the sea “protected” only by rubber gloves reveals the desperation felt by these women. In another image, a woman looks on with vacant and fixed eyes, attempting to collect enough in waters with diminishing seaweed.

The harvested seaweed has many uses: it goes into the manufacturing of agar (a gelatinous substance used to thicken food items) and as an element in fertilisers. It is also used by many pharmaceutical companies for its medicinal value. The fishing communities and seaweed harvesters were among the first to observe the change in marine life. Severe overexploitation and industrial fishing has sharply depleted the resources making life difficult for small-scale fishing communities and seaweed harvesters including those from Bharathinagar. To counter the problem, the women have established a self-regulatory regime under which they allow the resources to replenish themselves by not harvesting for a certain duration. Although a simple and thoughtful act, the gap periods only affect the incomes of the harvesters. The sea has been getting more difficult and most days are unpredictable, yet the women continue to venture into the sea.

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All images by M. Palani Kumar. Images courtesy of the artist and PARI.

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