Fishermen of this and other districts, who ventured into the Palk Bay for fishing, ended yet another fishing year on sore note after the Sri Lankan navy had arrested as many as 464 fishermen and confiscated 88 trawlers during 2017-18 on charges of trespassing into the Lankan waters and indulging in illegal fishing. As the 61-day fishing ban period commenced on the night of April 14, the fishermen of Ramanathapuram, Pudukottai, Nagapattinam and Thanjavur looked back to find the 10-month long fishing season from June 2017 to March 2018 yet another traumatic season with lasting solution for their vexatious problem still a distant dream. Every time we begin a new season, we venture into the sea hoping that officials would be sympathetic to our plight and things would turn for better but end up with tears, said P Sesu Raja, leader of mechanised boat fishermen association in Rameswaram. During 2017, the Lankan navy had arrested 408 fishermen, including about 200 from Pudukottai and more than 100 from Ramanathapuram and confiscated 77 trawlers, officials in the fisheries department said. Till March this year, the Lankan navy has arrested 56 fishermen and impounded 11 trawlers, they said. The only solace was that the Lankan authorities had released all the fishermen after they staged series of protests highlighting inhuman’ conditions under which the fishermen were jailed, fishermen said. The detention of more than 160 trawlers had caused a severe blow to the livelihood of fishermen, they said. The fishermen had high hopes when the Sri Lankan and Indian governments formed the Joint Working Group (JWG) to meet at regular intervals and address their problems but JWG seldom met, leave alone addressing their woes, they rued. Asserting that the fishermen were keen on switching over to deep sea fishing, the leaders urged the authorities to ensure trouble free fishing in their traditional waters’ in the Palk Bay till they switched over. As there was no point in salvaging the trawlers, which had suffered extensive damage, the Centre and State governments should compensate the boat owners and help them take up deep sea fishing, they suggested. Pressing the twin demand, they proposed to launch an agitation with about 100 fishermen in Delhi soon, they said. The leaders felt that the ban on fishing to facilitate breeding would be meaningful only if the officials prevented traditional fishermen, who continued fishing, using high power engines. They suggested that the CMFRI launch large scale sea ranching of important species during the ban period to augment the marine resources.
2018, The Hindu