The Hindu : Kerala News : Government ill-equipped to handle sea rescue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 20, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Government ill-equipped to handle sea rescue

G. Anand

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as two lakh fishermen in Kerala are readying to brave the rough seas in the forthcoming monsoon, the State Government is finding itself ill-equipped to conduct search and rescue operations at sea.

Thirty-one fishermen had died and scores of others were injured at sea last year.

Most of the casualties had occurred during the rainy season.

Poor mobility

Despite the tsunami disaster in December 2004 and alarms of sea surge this year, little has been done to improve the communication and mobility of the Marine Enforcement Wing that is primarily responsible for sea rescue operations and coastal vigilance, Government officials said.

Although the Fisheries Department has already opened six 24-hour fishery control rooms in the State in view of monsoon, the Marine Enforcement Wing of the department does not have a single sea-worthy boat of its own for search and rescue operations.

High-speed boats

In 1998, the Government had purchased five high-speed patrol boats with all-weather capability for the fishery stations at Vizhinjam, Neendakara, Vypeen, Beypore and Kannur. The Mercantile Marine Department had graded the boats as Class-12 vessels that required to be commanded by an officer of the grade of master and maintained by a first-grade engineer.

Since the pay of the master and engineer was above that of the Assistant Director of Fisheries, who is the custodian of the boats, the Fisheries Department downgraded the post to that of skipper and second-grade engineer.

The boats that cost Rs 1.56 crores fell into a state of disrepair within four years of purchase owing to lack of maintenance and proficient crew. The Government has since decided to sell the boats at the price of iron scrap.

For the past five years, the Marine Enforcement wing has been hiring old fishing boats for search and rescue operations. "The boats are very slow and can only do speeds less than eight nautical miles an hour," an official said. Except for a few old life buoys and life jackets, the unit has no life saving equipment and is also understaffed.

The policemen in the wing are not trained in sea rescue and only a few know swimming.

A proposal to recruit and train 35 youth who know swimming from the fishermen community has not been implemented so far.

FIN not functioning

The Fisheries Information Network (FIN), commissioned in 2001 for communicating weather warning reports over wireless to fishermen at sea and coordinating rescue operations, is not functioning properly.

The main wireless repeater station of the network at Ponmudi has not been repaired after it was damaged in a lightning strike last year. The wireless network originally had a range of 45 kms and could cover the coastline from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam.

The Government is yet to implement the second phase of the network, which would ensure wireless coverage of the entire 590 km coastline of Kerala.

Only few of the 200 wireless sets issued to fishermen in 2001 are in working order.

Union's rescue service

The general secretary of the Swatanthra Matsya Thozhilali Union, T. Peter, said the situation had forced the traditional fishermen to put in place their own search and rescue teams in coastal villages.

He said the five fishery stations were inadequate to cater to the needs of 222 odd fishing villages that are spread over nine districts in the State.

The director, Fisheries Department, G. Harikumar, said that all efforts were being taken to ensure the safety of fishermen at sea during the monsoon.

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