Kerala’s tourism stakeholders appear to be in no hurry to renovate and restore the few iconic Chinese fishing nets that remain on the Fort Kochi coastline.
The call to preserve the nets got a recent impetus in the wake of the possible visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Kochi, in September. Players in the tourism sector said the heritage town would lose its definitive appeal without the rustic charm of the nets and the fishermen managing them.
Faced with the huge cost of procuring teak poles, operators of many nets substituted them with iron poles, at the cost of their aesthetic value. A few others dismantled the nets because of the high operational cost and fall in fish catch. All this took place in the past few years – 500 years since the Portuguese introduced these nets from Indo-China in Kochi. Despite tall promises during the past decade, government agencies and NGOs did not step in with help to provide teak poles to net operators at subsidised rates.
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A high ranking official of Kerala Tourism said a Rs. 1.50-crore project to revive the nets to their past glory was cleared early this year and the project would hopefully be implemented this fiscal by KITCO, the executing agency. He was, however, unsure whether the project would be implemented before the onset of the tourist season in September.
“We received a copy of the government order earmarking Rs 1.50 crore for the purpose, from Kerala Tourism. But the agency has not provided details of how the project has to be implemented, based on its master plan,” KITCO sources said. There is no clarity on how many nets will be restored and how. A clear idea would emerge only after a joint meeting was convened, they said.
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“These nets adorn almost all brochures of Kerala Tourism and are said to be the most photographed heritage structures after Taj Mahal. But the government, Kerala Tourism and tourism stakeholders who capitalize on the nets failed to do justice to their owners, fishermen manning them and their heritage value,” said K. J. Sohan, convenor of the Kerala chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and former Kochi Mayor.
A one-time financial help may not help preserve the nets. Their operators need sustainable help since the nets are living monuments. Their heritage value apart, they have been providing a livelihood for fishermen for the past 500 years.
Mr. Sohan said the nets could be sustained if teak poles that were available with the Forest Department were made available at nominal rates.