NPM Fish Meal and Oil Products operates a processing plant in the Thoothukudi district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.¹ It was the subject of a long-lasting protest by local residents against several fish processing units in the area. Other plants that were also the focus of this protest included Jenefa India and Marksmen Aquatic Products.

Between 2020 and 2024, NPM Fish Meal and Oil Products was involved in clashes with local residents on at least six occasions, including cases of civil unrest and physical violence, according to an investigation by The Outlaw Ocean Project. The actions of the plant were also alleged to have caused at least two environmental violations during this period, resulting in respiratory issues and contaminated drinking water.

On April 19, 2024, police violently clashed with protestors during a demonstration that sought to shut down the NPM fishmeal facility and other fish processing plants in Thoothukudi.² As residents in Pottaloorani, a village in the district, staged a sit-in protest in the streets, a group of masked men carrying knives, bottles, and wooden logs drove into the village in an SUV and attacked them. Villagers accused the gang of working with the authorities. “The police wanted to incite violence” and frame them for the clash, protesters told The Hindu.³ Residents lobbed stones at the SUV and pounced on squad cars, damaging the vehicles.⁴

The events had political implications too.⁵ Protest leaders called on the demonstrators to boycott the parliamentary vote taking place on the same day as another way to voice local outrage at what they said was an unwillingness to close the fishmeal and fish processing factories that were polluting their community. ⁶ More than 900 of the 931 voters in the village boycotted the parliamentary elections, according to local news reports.⁷

Residents were angry for several reasons. First, there was the foul smell. They attributed this to several plants including one operated by NPM Fish Meal and Oil Products, another by Jenefa India, and the third by Marksmen Aquatic Products.⁸ All of them were based in the Thoothukudi district. Local residents described this stench as unbearable.⁹ “We cannot breathe properly as the stinking odor causes breathing problems to children, senior citizens, patients and pregnant women,” one resident told The Hindu in 2023.¹⁰ A December 2023 report by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board concluded that the plants’ stench was caused by exhaust air from the processors and water purification systems.¹¹

The second complaint of the demonstrators pertained to plant waste contaminating local water, including that used for fields, livestock and drinking.¹² “Cattle die after consuming water from the pond while grazing,” a villager told the New Indian Express in 2024, adding that factory wastewater was being routinely discharged into the Perumal Nayakar Oorani, a reservoir used for drinking.¹³ Local anger over these problems had been growing for some time. On May 15, 2023, residents submitted a petition to district officials to shut down the plants.¹⁴ When their demands went unmet, residents took to the streets in 2024.

In May 2024, a month after the violent clashes with police and the broader election boycott, local residents built a shed on the banks of a pond. It was meant as a meeting place to discuss the concerns with organizations and reporters visiting the area interested in the unrest, according to The New Indian Express. Police tried to dismantle the shed but the villagers intervened.¹⁵ In June 2024, local officials inspected the NPM Fish Meal and Oil Products plant, along with two other plants. They discovered high levels of chemicals in the groundwater.¹⁶ In October 2024, four members of the Pottalurani village council submitted resignation letters to protest the district authorities’ inaction. “When a ward member is not even allowed to register their villagers’ grievances during a public meeting,” they asked, “then what power do we wield as their representatives?”¹⁷

In early November 2024, district officials assigned monitors to record the plants’ odor emissions throughout the day. However, villagers contended that the plants typically emit foul odor after 11pm, when fish are boiled overnight.¹⁸ On November 24, 2024, tensions erupted again as residents held another protest calling for the shutdown of the fish processing units and the termination of what they say are bogus police charges against them for causing public nuisance.¹⁹ “Police are filing false cases to stop us from protesting, but we are not going to stop for any reason,” a demonstrator told The Hindu. Despite their ongoing efforts, “the district administration showed no interest in listening to them and their grievances,” residents said. In fact, one protester noted that local officials have been “repeatedly granting permission” for the construction of new fish processing facilities.”²⁰

NPM Fish Meal and Oil Products failed to respond to a request for comment.²¹