Bumper catch of prawn and other expensive fish for the past five days has brought smile on the faces of traditional fishermen in Karwar. But they are not in a mood to enjoy it as fishing by mechanized boats will resume from Monday, taking away the advantage they were enjoying for the past two months. Fishing by mechanized boats is banned in June and July every year to facilitate reproductive activities of fish. This is the time when the traditional fishermen make maximum earning owing to their brief monopoly over fishing business. But this year, according to many traditional fishermen, they had an average business during the ban and it was only during last week, they maged to net big catches of fish and prawns. Anand, a fisherman, attributes it to the heavy rains that lashed the Malnad region last week. “The rivers which join the sea bring large quantity of organic material along with them. It makes sea volatile forcing fish to come near shore in search of food, he added. But to their bad luck, the mechanised boats will hit the sea for fishing from Monday. “Mechanised boats use satellite technology to find out movement of fish deep into the sea and go directly there and catch them. We don’t have that advantage. We will have to satisfy with small catches which escape their nets,”said 70-year-old Krishna Surangekar, a traditional fisherman from Karwar demanding government to extend the ban at least by one more month. Traditional fishing on the verge of extinction Traditional fishing which was at its peak just two decades ago, has lost its charm now. The use of high speed motor boats, purse seine boats, satellite technology to identify the movement of fish and deep sea fishing have rendered a blow to the traditional way of fishing. From being a means of livelihood to fishermen community, fishing has evolved into a commercial activity in recent years. “Today majority of mechanised boat owners belong to non-fishing communities. Traditional poor fishermen cannot compete with them money and technology. So many of them leaving the profession,” Surangekar said.
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