The Marine police of the Coastal Security Group (CSG) have offered to help the fisheries department in taking action against fishermen who used banned fishing nets and indulged in dynamite fishing provided the department procured a mechanised or high power boat to tackle the fishermen in deep sea.
Pointing out that the fishermen violated the law and used banned fishing nets such as pair trawling and purse seine nets, while fishing in the deep sea, R. Sakthivel, CSG Superintendent of Police, said the erring fishermen could be caught red handed only if the fisheries department was equipped with infrastructure facilities.
The fisheries department which hired high power boats from the Navy to launch surveillance in the deep sea, had given up the practice, he said adding the CSG personnel were also handicapped as they could not sail deep into the sea with their 12 tonne capacity boat.
If the office of the Deputy Director (DD) of Fisheries purchased a mechanised boat, matching the speed of the mechanised fishing boats, the CSG would be more than willing to spare manpower in the operations, he said.
The need for surveillance in deep sea has arisen following the recent stand off between fishermen of Thondi and Karaikal in the mid sea, off Jagadapattinam. The country boat fishermen from Thondi alleged that they were fishing on the high seas when mechanised boat fishermen from Karaikal destroyed their nets, using pair trawling.
The Thondi fishermen managed to ‘seize’ a mechanised boat and held eight fishermen captive and when they brought the seized boat to the shore, the DD fisheries booked a case against the Karaikal fishermen for using pair trawling, the SP said.
“As such violations take place in the deep sea, the fisheries department could own a high power boat,” he suggested.
Meanwhile, country boat fishermen, who had a running feud with mechanised boat fishermen, when the latter indulged in fishing within three nautical miles, urged the district administration to convene a meeting of collectors of five coastal districts to redress their grievances.
