Tension is building on the high seas off Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts coast as mechanised boat fishermen from Kanyakumari and Kerala enter the East Coast for fishing operations, violating the 45-day-long ban on fishing in vogue.
Following the annual ban on operations by mechanised boats coming into force along the coast between Tiruvallur and Kanaykumari to facilitate fish breeding, mechanised boats from Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts have completely stopped their activities. However, boats from Kanyakumari and Kerala are intruding into the banned areas, posing a threat to nets and persons on country boats.
“It’s not happening for the first time… While we are losing our revenue because of the ban, , Kanyakumari fishermen have been violating the order for the past several years,” said Pavulraj, a mechanised boat owner.
When the issue was raised with Tuticorin Collector M. Ravikumar, he assured them that the marine police and the Indian Coast Guard would jointly patrol the area and detain boats that defy the ban. Subsequently, three mechanised boats from Kanyakumari district were detained and 35 fishermen held.
“We could see more than 50 boats from Kanyakumari and Kerala fishing in the banned area… We won’t release the detained boats till the end of the ban period. Arrangements will be made for auctioning the fish and a fine five times the worth of impounded fish will be imposed,” warned Sivakumar, Assistant Director of Fisheries.
Fishermen from Tuticorin expect the Kanyakumari district administration to warn mechanised boat owners from the neighbouring district against venturing into the banned area, cancel the licences and stop giving diesel subsidy for violating the ban order.
“If the Kanyakumari district administration prefers to turn a blind eye on this serious issue, we’ll be forced to act on our own,” warned the boat owners and labourers who gathered at the Tuticorin fishing harbour on Sunday following the detention of two boats from Colachel, Kanyakumari.