Kerala - Alappuzha   

Trawling ban renders thousands jobless

Staff Reporter

Prawn-peeling sheds, ice plants close down

ALAPPUZHA: The nearly 60 prawn-peeling sheds in Cherthala taluk in the district closed down on Wednesday following the trawling ban. Thousands of workers employed in these sheds are now jobless.

The 40 ice plants and freezing units, numbering nearly 40, in the taluk that help refrigerate fish have also closed down, rendering jobless hundreds of workers. Almost all the workers in peeling sheds are women from poor families, and they have to find other jobs till the ban ended.

The workers in the sheds are unorganised and they are not paid anything other than daily wages. A majority of them would have to take loans from moneylenders to survive during the ban, said trade union leaders in the area.

The Kerala State Matsaya Mazdoor Sabha leader E.O. Verghese said the State Government should intervene to provide aid to workers during the trawling ban. The sabha would organise a protest in Ernakulam on June 30 against the neglect shown to peeling-shed workers.

P.A. Hamid, treasurer of Peeling Shed Owners' Association, said the authorities concerned often failed to see the other side of the trawling ban, which was being imposed every year to help traditional fishermen.

According to him, the ban is not leading to an increase in fish wealth as is being said by its supporters.

Citing the case of prawns, he said there was no considerable increase in the catch by traditional fishermen even during the ban. He alleged that the big country boats fitted with engines which went to sea in large numbers during the ban polluted the waters and hindered breeding of fish. The kerosene and diesel which spilt into the sea from such boats caused immeasurable damage to fish wealth, he said.

Mr. Hamid pointed out that the ban was not being imposed all over the country simultaneously. While it was from June 14 midnight in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh imposed it in April. Enforcement of the ban was not strict in Karnataka and Goa. Fish migrated with sea currents and there was not much relevance in the ban if not enforced simultaneously by all States.

Mr. Hamid noted that with the disappearance of manually operated boats from the fishing sector, there was not much difference between country crafts and fully mechanised vessels. The country boats were also fitted with powerful engines, and they too used modern nets which did not leave out even small fish, he added.

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Trawling ban renders thousands jobless

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