Two years has passed since the Central government ordered boats to be colour-coded for each State but the district is yet to see its complete implementation.
A little more than half of about 1,500 trawlers registered in the district had implemented the colour-code order as dictated by Central and State governments.
The order, received by the Fisheries Department in June 2012, seeks to colour-code boats in each State to identify stray ones.
For Karnataka, fishing trawlers and boats will have to paint their cabin blue, while the lower and upper portions will be painted black and white. The order seeks to make it easier for the Coast Guard and security agencies to identify boats from afar, reducing the probability of a foreign boat coming to the coast unnoticed.
With no powers to take punitive action against the unwilling boat owners, M.D. Prasad, Deputy Director of Fisheries Department, said: “By withholding registrations to new boats if they do not sport the colour, we have ensured progress to some extent. It is only the boat owners of existing boats who have to be convinced.”
He, however, seemed confident that it would be implemented by September when the owners take up painting of their vessels before the start of the fishing season.
Mr. Prasad claimed a lot of fishermen were hoping for the circular to be changed such that all-India boats will be asked to paint the same colours.
“A lot of boat owners fear if they paint Karnataka colours on the boat, they will get into trouble if they fish in Goa or Kerala. They were hoping their demand for a uniform colour scheme would be heard. Now that it is confirmed that this would not be, we hope that they will implement the directive,” said Mr. Prasad.
Earlier efforts to coerce boat owners, such as sending circulars to boat owners, cooperative societies, diesel depots and the fishermen’s unions warning of penalties, including cancelling of registrations or cutting of fuel subsidies were “ignored” after fishermen found out that these threats will not be implemented, said officials.
Loknath Boloor, Working President of the Coastal Karnataka Fishermen Action Committee, blamed the “weak” department.
“It is because of the half-hearted way of implementation that fishermen have not yielded. Instead of mere threats, if the department had been more proactive, more boats would have followed the security code,” he said.
