Fishers urge Kerala govt. to review decision on permit renewal for fishing vessels

Fishers apprehensive of outboard engine vessels above 10 years old going out of business after the proposed Fisheries department inspection on January 16

Fishers have expressed apprehension over the possibility of thousands of outboard engine vessels going out of business after a proposed Fisheries department inspection of vessel engines on January 16 for issue of fresh permits.

According to government criteria, engines up to 10 years old alone will be issued fresh permits. It implies that thousands of vessels that fail the test will be out of the list of those eligible for

subsidised kerosene through the Public Distribution System or Matsyafed.

Vessels that were granted permits in 2012 and are still in operation will be among those losing permits under the new stipulations, said Charles George of Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedhi on Thursday. The fishing community had requested the government through several representations to fix the permit period for 15 years, but the government has not responded so far, he added.

He said union members had met Fisheries Joint Secretary Asha Augustine on Thursday and conveyed their apprehension over the government move. According to him, as many as 158 vessels were issued permits in Ernakulam in 2015. Since then, over 200 had joined the fleet. Of them, only 148 have so far applied for permit renewal, which indicates that the rest may have already gone out of business, he added.

Fishing vessels with outboard engines have been receiving a specific quantity of subsidised kerosene over the last three decades. The government has been slashing the quantum of subsidised kerosene supply to the fisheries sector following a World Trade Organisation recommendation that no fuel subsidy be offered to fishing vessels.

A portion of subsidised kerosene distributed through Supplyco has been reserved for fishing vessels. However, the volume has been drastically reduced. While 600 litres of subsidised kerosene used to be given to an engine or a vessel per month two decades ago, the volume has been cut down to 129 litres. The volume of kerosene is not even enough to meet a day’s fuel need, claimed Mr. George. The subsidised quantum has now been further reduced to 40 to 60 litres per month, he added.

Meanwhile, fishers said the decision of the Fisheries department not to renew permits for boats owned by those above 60 years old would result in livelihood issues. While boats will go out of business, their owners will be totally banned from engaging in fishing operations, Mr. George said.

The fishing community, in a recent memorandum to the Chief Minister, had requested him to make State agencies intervene to end black marketing of kerosene.