Kerala - Kollam   

Fishing boat operators flay trawling ban

Staff Reporter

KOLLAM: The Mechanised Fishing Boat Operators Association has said that the monsoon time ban on trawling had very badly affected them.

In a statement here on Tuesday, patron of the association Neythil Vincent said the Government claim that the ban had served to conserve and augment marine wealth was not true. Even traditional fishermen were stating that fish yield from Kerala waters had come down drastically. It was citing this fact that the traditional fishermen moved the Supreme Court with a plea for control against over fishing.

He alleged it was destructive methods of fishing resorted to by a section of the traditional fishermen which had contributed towards the depletion of marine wealth. Conservation of marine wealth would be ineffective if banned fishing nets were used. As far as the mechanised sector was concerned, the monsoon used to be the most profitable time in the past. This because there were certain fishes which matured during the monsoon and had to be caught at that time. If not these were a national waste. The mechanised sector had been catching only such fish.

Mr. Vincent criticised the Government plan to come out with a Bill to safeguard the so-called interests of the traditional fishermen.

He said the attempt was tantamount to creating two types of citizens. It was also a foolish attempt to establish that there are two types of fish in the sea, fish that spawn and fish that do not spawn. The aim was to give the impression that the traditional fishermen caught only fish that do not spawn whereas the mechanised sector caught fish that spawn.

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