A large number of fishing boats from the Colachal region in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu which used to fish in the sea off Kochi have ‘vanished,' landing several fishing-sector financiers in deep water.
Some 80 ‘Colachal boats' based in Kochi have left unannounced in the past fortnight. Together, they had taken large sums of money as advance from two dozen Tharakans (who are a combination of commission agents and moneylenders specialising in financing fishing expeditions). According to fishing-sector sources, the money advanced could be anywhere between Rs.5 crore and Rs.20 crore.
The Colachal boats, which are large, new-generation boats, have reportedly left for Andaman sea which is rich with yellow-fin tuna. Since tuna has a high export demand and command decent price, tuna fishing is said to be more remunerative for the Colachal fishermen than fishing off Kochi.
Essential component
Colachal fishermen, who are very good at using certain kinds of nets, have been an essential component of the fishing scene in Kochi for years. The boats often stay at sea for weeks together and venture far into the outer sea.
The Tharakans finance the Colachal boats' fishing expeditions with each boat taking an advance of several lakh rupees. The advance is for procuring fuel (each boat requires 5,000 to 8,000 litres of diesel for an expedition), huge quantities of ice for freezing the catch, food and other essentials. The catch needs to be sold to the Tharakans who get six per cent commission. All the transactions are conducted informally and no legally valid documents are kept and hence exploitation of the fishermen by the Tharakans are quite commonplace.
Now that the Colachal boats have left, the Tharakans are left with no means to recover the crores of rupees they have advanced to the fishermen. Since the Tharakans get the fuel and other supplies on credit from local petrol pumps and ice manufacturers, the latter too are in trouble.
