With complaints of mechanized fishing vessels violating rules and fishing in areas near the shore on the rise, the fisheries department and the marine enforcement wing of the police have decided to strengthen operations to prevent it.
Though the Kerala Marine Fisheries Regulation Act clearly stipulates the depth at which the mechanized fishing boats are supposed to conduct fishing, the rules are often violated and hence the decision to intensify the patrolling, according to officials.
On Thursday, the marine enforcement wing of the fisheries police station here, seized two boats at Padanna in Kasaragod, said Shinil V, the SI in-charge at the fisheries police station.
“According to the Act, the mechanized boats should not fish in waters with depth less than 10 fathoms between North Paravoor and Majswaraam, as these areas are reserved for traditional fishing crafts,” he said. “But quite often the mechanized boats fish here, that too using the nets that have the mesh size of 12 mm, which is also against the rules.”
“The rules clearly stipulate that the mechanized boats should not use nets with a mesh size of less than 35 mm, and also they should not do night trawling, but these regulations are often ignored thus affecting the marine wealth,” said the SI in-charge. The violation is made by the fishing boats from other states, too, said the officials.
There is a huge manpower crunch and infrastructure constraints, according to the fisheries police and fisheries department officials. Though the fisheries police station here has the approved staff strength of one SI, one senior civil police officer and six civil police officers, they have only two civil police officers here and the entire patrolling has to be done with a boat taken on rent.
In this backdrop, the fisheries department is planning some modernization, said J Suresh Babu, assistant director, fisheries station, Kannur.
“As the next step, we would launch a satellite tracking system for the mechanized boats, so that we can monitor if they are violating the rules,” he said. “It has already been implemented on trial basis in Kollam and it would also be made mandatory for the boats in all parts of the state.” Further, there is a colour code for the mechanized fishing boats. These boats should be painted in blue above the water level and the wheelhouse should be painted in orange, so that it could be easily differentiated from other boats.
From this year, a colour code would be made mandatory and the licence would not be renewed to them if it is not followed, added the assistant director.
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