Following repeated fatal mishaps at the entrance/exit point of Thengaipattinam fishing harbour, thousands of fishermen from eight villages in western Kanniyakumari district launched an indefinite strike on Tuesday demanding the restructuring of the fishing harbour. To highlight their demand, the striking fishermen staged a dharna at Chinnathurai village on Tuesday. They say the design of the Thengaipattinam fishing harbour itself was faulty and sand gets accumulated in the nearby estuary caused the mishaps. The officials, without discussing with the local fishermen about the sea pattern,’ had established the harbour. The sea is usually rough on the Kanniyakumari west coast, more so during monsoons. It should have been taken into account while designing the harbour, said Sunil Sabariyar of Vallavilai on the Kerala border. It is where 53-year-old Jesudasan lost his life last week when his boat was capsized in a giant wave at the exit point of the harbour. Mr. Sunil says tidal velocity during various months, depth of the sea, sea erosion, nearby estuary, experiences of local fishermen – these were all factors that should have been taken into consideration before designing the harbour. An M.Tech. degree holder, he said the small granite stones were used for constructing the breakwater instead of laying huge rocks there to neutralise the giant waves. The breakwater, which is constructed to ensure a camp sea inside the harbour throughout the year, has failed to serve the purpose as the groynes were very close to the harbour. So, the waves capsized the boats entering or exiting the harbour, leading to loss of lives. The breakwater should be extended by another 500 metres from the Thengaipattinam shoreline for neutralising the waves and ensuring calm inside the harbour, he said. The fishermen also said dredging of sand, getting accumulated in this danger zone’ due to rough seas and the nearby estuary, would not be a solution as sand removed from the accumulated areas would get filled up in no time due to the wave pattern. So, the government, besides restructuring the breakwater and the fishing harbour, should provide a lasting solution to sand getting accumulated in this accident-prone zone and inside the harbour by stationing a dredger, the fishermen said. The fishermen, demanding shifting of Parakkani check dam to some other place as it was facilitating sand accumulation, complained that they had witnessed the loss of 24 fishermen in the mishaps at the Thengaipattinam fishing harbour entry / exit point since 2014 four fatal accidents in the past five months. Families of the fishermen, who were killed in mishaps at Thengaaipattinam fishing harbour, should be given due compensation and employment must be given to a person from the affected families, they said. Fisheries Department officials held talks with the protesters in the evening.