Rising diesel price, issues concerning mechanised boat operators, country boat fishermen, subsidies, banned fishing nets and waiver of bank loans were some of the issues discussed at the fishermen grievance day meeting held here on Wednesday.
The meeting was held here after two years. Collector Shankar Lal Kumawat presided.
St. Xavier Mechanised Boats Fishermen Association president R. Sahayam said diesel price had gone up and it affected the fishermen. They could not make profit under the deep sea fishing scheme which was introduced to replace trawlers.
He said that they had huge loans to repay but they could not do so with the present financial condition. General secretary of the Tamil Nadu Mechanised Boats Fishermen Association N.J. Bose also aired similar views.
Under the scheme, if a vessel costs ₹ 80 lakh, 50 % has to be borne by the Centre, 20 % by the State government, 10 % by the beneficiaries and 20 % has to be secured through financial institutions. But, they ended up spending more, he said.
The mechanised boat fishermen said the authorities should write off their loans considering their plight.
The country boat fishermen complained about the conduct of mechanised boat fishermen.
Ramanathapuram Country Boats Fishermen Association president S.R. Rayappan said that banned fishing nets were being used by mechanised boats fishermen. The mechanised fishermen were also using banned Chinese engines that had higher horsepower.
Ramanathapuram secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions M. Karunamoorthy complained that though banned fishing nets were being used, the offenders were let off. He said tough punishment should be imposed. Fisherwomen should be permitted to collect sea algae without any restriction. Mechanised fishermen were fishing in the area where only country boat fishermen had rights to fish. He urged the authorities to monitor these issues and prevent violation of rules and regulations.
