Incensed by a ten-fold hike in the licence fee for fishing boats, major fishermen’s associations are planning to launch a Statewide agitation next week.“This unfair hike comes at a time when fish workers have been hit hard by the depletion of fish resources,” says K. Rajan, vice-president of the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Congress. “Now the owner of a medium size boat has to pay ₹52,500 as registration fee, which was just ₹5,000 earlier.”
The State-wide protest would begin on July 29. Though fish workers’ associations, owing allegiance to different political parties, are now planning independent protests initially, they are also thinking of a joint protest later on.
Mr. Rajan claimed that the State government was trying to crush the traditional fishermen. “The Union government is seriously working on a proposal to ban all fishing boats fitted with kerosene outboard engines. In the near future, the fishers will have to purchase costly petrol engines for survival. Very few fishers are aware of such a move,” he said. inorbitant
Leaders of the Bharatiya Matsya Pravarthaka Sanghom, an affiliate of the Bharatiya Janata Party, noted that that even the owners of small fishing boats would have to pay ₹2,100 as licence fee, an exorbitant hike from ₹200.The hike was not discussed with fishers, said N.P. Radhakrishnan, vice-president of the sanghom.
“Only a Minister who is totally ignorant of the current plight of fishermen and the fishing sector can endorse such a plan,” he said.
He also pointed out that the fishing community was yet to overcome the impact of Cyclone Ockhi and the recent sea erosion. The sanghom’s protests would be on July 31. The Kerala Swatantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation, a trade union of small-scale fishers, has also called for a review of the revised licence fee.
Abdul Razik, secretary of the federation, said its members would stage a dharna in front of the fisheries deputy director’s office at Beypore on July 29.
