The dispute over the arrival of gillnet boats with fishers from Tamil Nadu on board brought activities at the Thoppumpady fishing harbour to a standstill on Monday, as purse seine boat workers called off all fishing activities, with harbour workers refusing to handle their catch.
Though a meeting was convened by District Collector S. Suhas on Sunday, it failed to end the impasse, and talks on Monday did not see any breakthrough, said M. Majeed of Harbour Coordination Committee.
Thoppumpady is Kerala’s biggest fishing harbour, and it was reopened after the annual trawling ban only in the second week of August owing to the lockdown. Bad weather warnings had further disrupted fishing operations from the harbour where thousands of vessels — 250 gillnet boats, 400 long liners, 300 trawlers, and 70 purse seine boats — operate.
The bone of contention is that fishers from other States are banned from entering Kerala harbours as per the COVID-19 protocol issued by the State government. The boats can be fined, and the Fisheries Department is considering imposing fine on four boats.
A section of harbour workers feels that they should not be punished so harshly. But purse seine boat workers, who had initially objected to the arrival of gillnet boats and prevented the catch on these boats from being sold at Thoppumpady harbour, are now facing opposition from harbour workers.
There are around 5,000 workers who depend on the harbour directly for their livelihood. The long shutdown and loss of fishing days have placed fishers in a financially hard situation.
