Thrissur fishermen defy ban

Traditional fish workers, led by T.N. Prathapan, MLA, venturing into the sea for fishing from Chettuva on Wednesday.

Defying the Union government’s fishing ban, a team of fishermen led by Fish Workers’ Congress State president T.N. Prathapan, MLA, set out for deep-sea fishing on Wednesday.

The MLA and the fishermen set off from the Chettuva harbour around 9 a.m.

A team of presspersons accompanied them on another boat.

Mr. Prathapan said the Centre’s order for imposing a 61-day fishing ban was not practical.

It would affect the livelihood of the fishermen.

The order was an attack on the rights of fishworkers to catch fish from the sea.

Maximum in June

Fishermen used to get maximum catch during the month of June.

A fishing ban during this period could not be accepted, he said. Fish Workers’ Congress leaders K.D. Veeramani, U.K. Peethambaran, Alavudhin, and Mushthaqali and Thalikulam block panchayat president K. Dileep Kumar and others went out to sea along with the MLA.

As they didn’t get fish within the 12-nautical mile limit, they went up to 15 nautical miles to catch fish.

Later, they distributed the fish at the harbour.