The burgeoning number of migrant labourers in the fisheries sector has now set off a security alarm, with the apex committee on coastal security contemplating the ways and means to document their presence and authenticate their identity in the volatile sector.
The July 6-meeting co-chaired by Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson and Vice-Admiral Sunil Lanba, heading the Southern Naval Command and Commander-in-Chief of Coastal Defence of the region raised serious concerns about the absence of a mechanism to monitor the increasing empanelment of migrant workers as deck hands’ on trawlers and other fishing vessels across the State.
With no other way out, the Fisheries Department, entrusted with registering fishing vessels and issuing biometric identity cards to fishermen from Kerala as part of an ongoing national drive to bring in transparency to the sector, has now asked boat owners to only allow migrant workers with some valid I-cards preferably voter’s identity card or Aadhaar on their vessels.
Only the Labour Department has a mechanism to do a headcount of the migrant labour population in the State, and in this sector. However, workers from coastal States like West Bengal and Odisha can have biometric cards from their respective States. As regards those from non-coastal States, the onus is on the boat owners engaging them to ensure that they carry some valid government identity card. It is the job of the Coastal Police and the Coast Guard to verify this, says Mini Antony, fisheries director.
The maritime security agencies, in the meantime, are concerned about the growing trend.
While we insist on authenticating identities of vessels and fishers in the region, the fact that there’s seagoing floating population has a strong security angle to it and calls for a solution, says Captain Varghese Mathew, Naval Officer In-Charge Kerala (NOIK).
The fisheries department has so far issued identity cards to about 1, 72,000 fishermen in Kerala, with another 58,000 in line to get it. Heads of families in coastal areas are also given i-cards. Security agencies, including the Coast Guard and the Coastal Police, are armed with data card readers for hassle-free verification of identities at sea.
Rough estimates suggest that Kerala has about 8,000 migrant workers employed on fishing vessels as deck workers, supporting the main crew with safe storage of catch.
It’s relatively recently that the sector has witnessed a shortage of experienced workers from the region. Many people have shunned this for more lucrative jobs, says Stoy M.A, a boat owner.
2015, The Hindu