Fishermen organisations in Chennai have urged the fisheries department to prevent the usage of banned fishing nets and high-powered Chinese motors during fishing by certain mechanised boats.
According to the fishermen association leaders, the usage of these are leading to a dwindle in fish wealth and many vessels were returning home empty handed or with meagre revenue.
Thankaselvam, a leader of the Fishermen Association of Tamil Nadu, while speaking to IANS said, “After the fishing ban was over, some mechanized boats went to the sea even as the authorities have not allowed fishing till June 20 due to bad weather. However they could get only a low quantity of catch in the range of 80 to 100 kg. This is much lower when compared to around 250 kg of catch which fishermen used to get in earlier days.”
He said that the usage of banned fishing nets and Chinese high speed motors is leading to the dwindling of fish wealth in the sea.
N.J. Bose, President of the Federation of All Mechanised Boat Fishermen welfare association told media persons that the fish wealth has dwindled mainly due to the usage of banned fishing nets which destroys and damages the sea floor and coral reefs. This leads to a reduction in fish population.
The fishermen leaders called upon the state and central governments to take stringent action against those involved in using banned fishing nets that destroy the fish wealth.
Fishermen also said that the pollutants from big ships and dumping of waste was creating major problems for the presence of fish in the sea. The fishermen wanted the Government of India to create awareness of waste dumping in the sea.
Another factor is that most of the fishermen and fishermen leaders confirmed that there was a cartel in the market involving fish traders and middlemen who take the catch at a low price. This issue, according to fishermen leaders, could be resolved only with the direct intervention of the state government in the procurement of fish from the fishermen who bring it to the shore.
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