The ruling issued by the International Tribunal last week to release an Italian marine facing a charge of murdering two Indian fishermen at sea in 2012 has invited strong protest from fishers and triggered a fresh demand for urgent measures to ensure safety at sea.
While one section of fishers feel that the government had failed to present its case before the arbitration court at The Hague, another segment feels that the incident had exposed the ignorance among Indian fishers about marine laws and the signalling system used by mariners.
“With about 4,000 vessels plying the Arabian sea daily, the absence of a demarcated route for shipping can lead to collisions and confrontations at sea, resulting in incidents like the firing on Indian fishermen,” says Joseph Xavier Kalappurakkal, general secretary, All Kerala Fishing Boat Operators Association. “It is high time the government stepped in to demarcate a shipping channel and impart training to Indian fishers in marine laws and signalling systems.
The high traffic density also justifies the need to deploy the Automatic Identification System (AIS) to keep a constant tab on the movement of vessels”.
Two Indian fishermen were killed when they were fired upon by the marines on duty aboard MV Enrica Lexie, an Italian flagged oil tanker off the Kerala coast in 2012.
Expressing dismay over the ruling of the UN arbitration court, the National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) said the government of India was answerable for the verdict. “It is clear that the government had diluted its commitment to stand firm on the trial of the Italian marines in India”, says T. Peter, national secretary, NFF. Mr. Xavier said wind and ocean currents and the pursuit of shoals often forced fishermen to veer off course, inadvertently ending up in hostile territory, to be arrested and incarcerated.
“The solution is to set up a trans-boundary authority with representatives from ocean rim countries. The authority could be tasked with securing the release of fishermen after ascertaining their identity. But the government has not responded to the long-pending demand for such a mechanism,” he said.
