The Bay of Bengal is named in remembrance of historic Bengal region in the northern part of this ocean. The Bay of Bengal touches India, Bangladesh, Myanmar in the north and its southern limit is a line between Sri Lanka and the northwesternmost point of Sumatra (Indonesia). The Bay of Bengal covers about 2.2 million square kilometers has a deep-sea level of 8500 feet. It also attracts significance for its rich marine biodiversity resources. About seven per cent of the world's fish catch is done in the Bay of Bengal.
Nagapattinam lies in the mouth of Kuduvayyar River on the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. It is also a significant place representing Tamil heritage. It served as important port during the Chola dynasty in 10th century. The port was widely used by the Dutch, Portuguese and British as one of the major ports of the Coromandel Coast for trading purposes. The trade of Nagapattinam was mostly with Sri Lanka, Burma and to a small extent to the United Kingdom and Spain. The port also served civilian transportation to east Asian countries, but these services were suspended due to a fire accident happened in the port. Presently, the port handles only a limited amount of edible oil imports
A majority of the people from Nagapattinam are employed in sea-borne trading, fishing, saltpan, prawn cultivation, agriculture and tourism
Nagapattinam is one of the cyclone-prone zones and was devastated during the Tsunami in 2004. Nagapattinam district was the most affected part in Tamil Nadu, accounting for 6064 causalities, 80% of total causalities occurred in the state. A large number of the casualties were from the fishing community, who resided close to the seashore. The loss and destruction to property affected the fishing industry, as most of their boats were damaged by inundation. The immediate aftermath created a lull in tourism. Recent cyclones like Gaja almost plucked the coconut trees and wasted the life work of farmers.
Tourism is becoming one of the major economic drivers in Nagapattinam with the presence of heritage and historic points like Nagore, Velankanni, Sikkal, Kodikkarai, Vedaranyam, Mannargudi and Tharangambadi. Each spot has historic stories and importance.
Let’s travel with the waves of bay from “Vilunthamavadi”, one of the fisheries villages in Nagapattinam.
Coastal women are independent and empowered to handle situations. As the fishermen are going to sea, naturally, women are handling the family on their own. Women are vested with responsibility and freedom. While the education of girl children is in increasing trend, the child marriages have come down. One or other way, all the women are engaging in some kind of livelihood activities.
In the recent years it is observed that migration to abroad becomes one of the common trends among the coastal youths. After completion of their schooling or some vocational courses, most of the youths including fishermen youths are migrating to other countries as labourers till their marriage.
Nowadays, village specific sports, youth festivals, marriages by self-choice are emerging among the youths. However, the marriages are happening within the villages. They celebrate their local deity festivals once in a year with lot of enthusiasm and interest.
The effective usage of smart phone and internet witnesses the technology penetration in the coastal villages.
