Into their third day of a Statewide strike, fishing boat operators on Saturday decided to continue with their protest triggering concern that fish supplies will dwindle causing a sharp price hike. The Kerala Fishing Boat Operators Association, which spearheads the fishing shutdown, and its allies, decided at a meeting at Kochi to take the strike to its logical end. They also decided to take out a rally to the State Secretariat to press for their demands. The association and the allied fishing unions have been on strike since Thursday in protest against the alleged harassment by Fisheries officials in the name of steps to curtail fishing juveniles. They also want the Central and State governments to raise the subsidies on diesel used by the fishing sector in view of the record price of fuel. Joseph Xavier, general secretary of the association, told The Hindu that the fishing shutdown would continue until the government backed off from the illogical and unreasonable curbs on fishing juveniles. He claimed that close to 4,000 boats along the Kerala coast were keeping off the sea in protest. Mr. Xavier accused fisheries regulators of harassing fishing boats if there were even a small portion of juveniles in them. The fishes in the sea move about in shoals containing all sizes of fish, from juveniles to adults, he said. How can you totally filter juveniles from the catch? He said the association had offered to take the Fisheries Minister, top officials and a batch of MLAs on a fishing trip to the outer sea so that they could be convinced of this fact. He claimed that 10 fishing boat operators were arrested recently for fishing juveniles and that one boat was fined Rs. 2.5 lakh. Meanwhile, a Chaliyam-based group of small-boat owners challenged the claims of the association. One of them, who owned two boats and who did not want his name to be mentioned for fear of reprisals from the big boat owners, said the big boats were depleting the sea with their reckless fishing of juveniles. He alleged that the big boats, which were far longer than what was allowed by the government, illegally fished at night exclusively for juveniles as well as small fishes. The juveniles were then sold to Mangaluru-based factories. One box of such fish would fetch between Rs. 1,000 and 2,000. This is a big crime against the sea, the fishes and the people who depend on the sea for their livelihood, he said.