A majority of fishermen from five districts – Ramanathapuram, Pudukottai, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam (up to Kodiyakarai), ventured into the sea in over 2,500 mechanised boats on Tuesday (June 29) night in violation of resolutions passed by the Federation of Fishermen, which had proposed fishing only from Wednesday morning after obtaining tokens from the Fisheries Department. Up to 3,000 fishermen had ventured into the sea, in 750 mechanised boats from Rameswaram and 550 boats from Mandapam, in Ramanathapuram district, the federation members said. After the annual fishing ban ended on June 14, the fishermen had sought extension of the ban period till June 30 as they had to carry out repair works and other preparations. When the ban was in force, Sri Lankan authorities had dropped bus scrap in the sea, stating that it would help in fish production. However, the fishermen of Tamil Nadu had said it was done with the objective of damaging their boats and nets. Tokens not obtained While it was mandatory for the fishermen to get tokens to venture into the sea, they had not collected tokens this time.
CITU Fishermen Workers’ Welfare Union district secretary M. Karunamoorthy said the district administration should view the violation seriously as the fishermen risked their lives by not obtaining tokens. The practice of issuing tokens helped to keep a tab on each mechanised boat venturing into the sea with details of the owner and the number of persons on board. The All Fishermen Welfare Federation, which included members from the five districts, had also passed resolutions stating that the Fisheries Department should take stern action by not allowing such boats to venture into the sea at least for a week, and the government should discontinue diesel subsidy offered to such fishermen. When contacted, a Fisheries Department official said since the end of the ban period on June 14, the officials had been issuing tokens to boat owners. Assuring to look into the charges that a large number of boats had ventured into the sea from the five districts without obtaining tokens, the official said there were legal provisions to take action against them.
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