Indian fishermen use smartphones to map a vanishing way of life

Fishermen in Tamil Nadu are using apps to map their ancestral lands and protect old ways from new development. — Photo by Santhoshsivan on Unsplash

GUNANKUPPAM, India: Official maps show the roads, the power stations, the lighthouse – but skip all the special spots where generations of Indian fishermen have moored boats or dried their silvery catch, prayed for the living and buried their dead.

So now the fishermen of southern India are learning a whole new skill: mapping their ancient land by app – plot by precious plot – to stop industry from swallowing life on the lagoon.