Fishermen renew call for multi-day fishing

Mechanised boat operators in Thoothukudi district are hopeful that the government would permit them to engage in multi-day fishing once the annual fishing ban, which is currently imposed along the east coast of Tamil Nadu, ends on June 15.

According to R J Bosco, Secretary, Thoothukudi Mechanised Boat Owners Association, the demand for staying at sea for three or four days remains robust among fishermen and boat owners. He justified it by stating that they suffer a loss by fishing on a daily basis due to huge expenses incurred on diesel and other overheads.

“A boat owner has to shell out for 1,100 litres of diesel on an average every day, besides incurring expenses on labour and storage facilities. He makes money only when he catches fish worth Rs 1.25 lakh every day,” Bosco said.

He said a majority of the mechanised boats in the district have not ventured into sea for over a year as their long-pending demand remains unfulfilled.

According to him, the annual fishing ban has no effect on a group of mechanised boat operators in Thoothukudi, who have been debarred from venturing into the sea since September 2017.

The 61-day ban, which has been in effect since April 15, is aimed at conserving fish stock during its breeding season. Fishermen accustomed to using mechanised boats were instructed not to venture into sea so as to avoid disturbances caused by trawlers to marine species during the breeding season. Fishing by mechanised boats is permitted from 5am to 9pm daily as per the Tamil Nadu Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1983. However, in September 2017, around 240 fishermen on board 163 boats ventured into sea and overstayed. Subsequently, the fishermen were debarred by the Fisheries Department for violating the Act. The call for multi-day fishing to be permitted has grown stronger since then.

Since its demand was continuously ignored by the State government, the Association moved the court. In October last year, the High Court ordered authorities concerned to register mechanised boats for deep sea fishing within a period of eight weeks once the applications were submitted.

However, Bosco said the authorities were slow in implementing the court’s directive, stating that the Fisheries Department must speed up the registration process.

“Of late, the Fisheries Department is providing temporary registration numbers. Since devices such as Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI), Search and Rescue Transponder (SART) and Automatic Information System (AIS) have been mandatory, boat owners are in the process of purchasing them,” Bosco said.

“We are confident of installing all these mandatory devices on our boats and hopefully resume fishing once the 61-day ban gets lifted in June this year,” Bosco said.

Meanwhile, Dharmapichai, a fisherman, said that most of the fishermen, who were rendered jobless after mechanised boat operations were suspended, have migrated to Kerala to earn their livelihood.