The Hindu : Focus shifts to deep-sea fishing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 29, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Focus shifts to deep-sea fishing

By S. Shanker

CHENNAI April 28. Chennai fishermen have started looking towards deeper waters for sustenance. The 45-day ban on marine fishing for the second successive year appears to have made them study the depletion of stock in near-shore waters and alternatives available before them.

The president of the Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram Mechanised Boats Fishermen Association, P. Kuppan, says the association is keen to explore the possibility of acquiring GPS, echo sounders and Radiotelephones with Government assistance, to head for deeper waters in search of tuna and shark after May. The 45-day ban, which began on April 15, ends on May 29.

Of the 1,100 mechanised boats at the Chennai fishing harbour, about 10 per cent concentrate on deep-sea fishing. The exercise has been found to be lucrative rather than search for catch in `depleted grounds'.

The association members recently attended an introductory seminar on the electronic gadgetry available for deep-sea fishing. During the meet, the Marine Products Export Development Agency expressed its intention to subsidise a portion of the equipment cost. The Fisheries department had also conveyed its desire to explore ways of funding the programme for the benefit of fishermen.

Continued clashes with the Andhra Pradesh fishermen, especially with those of Nellore coast, are yet another reason for propelling the Chennai fishermen to look in deeper waters off the State's coastline.

The fishermen accept that increasing cost of diesel was cutting into their profits. A cruise up to Kakinada will require about 1,000 litres, which works out to about Rs. 20,000. On the contrary, deep-sea fishing will be more cost-effective in terms of fuel, as it involved casting of gill nets with engines switched off. Further, gill nets can be made to ensure that juveniles escape the net and only grown fish are caught.

The introspection by the fishermen has also made them suggest to the Government in a recent communication that it could take up a project to spawn fingerlings at Muttukadu and Pulicat for two weeks, during the ban period, and later let them into the sea. Even a 50 per cent survival rate of fish will be sufficient as no feed cost is involved, they contend.

As deep-sea fishing will require certain safety measures in case of engine breakdown, the association asked its members to carry sails with them, so that they can steer to the shoreline with the help of wind power.

``It is in case of such emergencies that communication equipment would be of assistance to fishermen in distress'', says Mr. Kuppan.

Ever since Chennai fishermen took to trawling in the earlier eighties, there has been a slow but gradual depletion of marine resources off the city's coastline.

The focus then shifted to the fertile fishing grounds off Andhra Pradesh, which resulted in neighbouring State's fishermen frequently impounding Chennai boats and holding boatmen for ransom.

Meanwhile, with the ban in force and the boats firmly anchored at the fishing harbour, about 8,000 families, which depend on the ocean for their livelihood, are left wondering about what lies in store for them.

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Focus shifts to deep-sea fishing