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TN fishermen now trespass neighbouring domains of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala
Have fishermen from Tamil Nadu become a law unto themselves? If the anguish and apprehensions of fishermen from the neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala are any indications, their counterparts in Tamil Nadu evoke fear among them; fear of vandalism, highhandedness and physical assault.
Tamil Nadu fishermen are infamous for trespassing into the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary Line and poaching marine wealth from the territorial waters of the island nation. Whenever they are challenged by the Sri Lankan Navy, leaders of political parties in Tamil Nadu make a huge noise over the “attacks” on their fishermen who were fishing in their “traditional waters”.
Over the last six months, Tamil Nadu fishermen have started trespassing into regions falling under the domains of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh (north of Tamil Nadu) and Kerala (which comes under the south west part) for poaching fish from the respective zones.
According to an office bearer of the Chennai based Indian Fishermen’s Association, authorities as well as fishermen in AP had taken into custody more than 80 fishing boats from Tamil Nadu which had trespassed into the territory of Andhra Pradesh. “The owners had to shell out hefty sums to get the boats released,” said the official. Cases of assault and vandalism have been filed against fishermen from Tamil Nadu who violated the laws and engaged in unauthorised fishing in the AP coast.
N P Radhakrishnan, vice-president, Bharatheeya Matsya Pravarthaka Sangh ( Union of Indian Fishermen), who is based in Kerala’s Kozhikode was more open in pointing out the irregularities committed by the fishermen from Tamil Nadu. “These fishermen, most of them hailing from the districts of Kanyakumari and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu openly violate the Marine Fisheries Regulation Act legislated by the Government of India. This rule stipulates that fishermen from one State should not engage in fishing activities in zones earmarked for other States. They should take prior permission from States where they plan to sell their catch.
Rules are strict and clear in this regard. But Tamil Nadu fishermen have become a law unto themselves,” said Radhakrishnan.
What worries fishermen in Kerala and AP is the distinct style of fishing practiced by their Tamil Nadu counterparts. “We in Kerala follow the practice of sustained fishing. This means that bottom trawling is not allowed and no fishing could be done with trawl net which literally swipes off the entire fish wealth in the region. The Tamil Nadu fishermen are notorious for swiping out the marine wealth. Their theme itself is to make maximum benefit in minimum time,” said Radhakrishnan.
Suresh, another fisherman from Kozhikode said that the style of fishing in Kerala ensured and sustained the marine wealth for future generations. “But the fishermen from Tamil Nadu are notorious for their arrogance and rough behaviour making it difficult to do any kind of reasoning with them,” said Suresh, who has experienced the wrath of the southern fishermen on a number of occasions.
Jayapalayan, president of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Federation, based in Chennai was quite blunt in agreeing with the complaints made by the Kerala and AP fishermen. “The truth is that the entire fish wealth in Tamil Nadu coast has vanished because of unsustainable fishing practices like trawl net usage and bottom trawling. This has made fishermen from Tamil Nadu to trespass into Sri Lankan territory for poaching. The Tamil Nadu fish folks are reluctant to switch over from bottom trawling and dump trawl net because of easy money,” said Jayapalayan, a qualified marine engineer-turned-fishermen activist.
The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has declared a series of measures to help the Tamil Nadu fishermen to stay away from the Sri Lankan waters. As part of the Blue Revolution initiative, 2000 trawlers operating in the Palk Bay would be replaced with deep sea vessels with which the fisher folk could fish in the Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mannar. The year 2017 itself would see the replacement of 500 trawlers.
The Centre and Tamil Nadu government have committed Rs 800 crore and Rs 320 crore respectively for the initiative. “Each vessel will be fitted for tuna-longlining and/or gillnetting and have a unit cost of Rs 80 lakh. Out of this , the trawl owners need to spend only Rs 8 lakh upfront and Rs 16 lakh through soft loan. The balance of Rs56 lakh will be shared by the Central and State government,” said Ajit Menon, a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies.
But Jayapalayan pointed out that there is no arrangement in Tamil Nadu to monitor the Blue Revolution initiative. “In spite of being provided with deep sea fishing vessels, our fishermen continue to trespass the IMBL and poach from the island nation’s territory. They want to make fast buck instead of working hard to earn a livelihood,” said Jayapalayan.
Dr Balakrishnan Nair, senior scientist at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad, said all possible help are being provided to Tamil Nadu fishermen in the form of details like potential fish zones in the Bay of Bengal and also global positioning service to keep them away from the IMBL. “This is all we could do. But they do not bother about the warning beeps from the GPS when they get close to IMBL,” Dr Nair told Sunday Times over telephone from INCOIS.
At the time of going to Press, Dr Nair and Radhakrishnan inform that Tamil Nadu fisher folk have extended their illegal areas of operation up to Seychelles in the Indian Ocean and Maharashtra coast along the Arabian Sea.