The Malabar regional committee of the Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation (KSMTF) has accused Fisheries Department enforcement squads of serious neglect in tracking fishing boats engaged in pair trawling.
Federation leaders told reporters here on Thursday that illegal fishing activity was largely responsible for the quick depletion of Kerala’s fisheries resources and the extinction of juvenile fish. They alleged that private fertiliser companies were actually taking advantage of the apathy on the part of enforcement squads.
Federation president Karamana Basheer and State committee member P.T. Mohammed Koya said marine enforcement squads constituted by the Fisheries Department were failing to carry out fruitful flash checking and impound boats used for pair trawling. “The squad members don’t have proper experience at sea. They usually use patrol boats to roam around harbours,” they claimed.
Mr. Basheer and Mr. Koya said the use of high-power underwater lights for fishing too was rampant off the Kozhikode coast. “Even during the trawl ban period, such illegal activities go unchecked. Boats from Puthiyappa and Beypore harbours were found to have bigger involvements in such illegal activities,” they alleged.
