Manoj Viswanathan By

Express News Service

KOCHI: THE recent incident where 10 Chinese fishing vessels sought emergency shelter at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra on June 7 to escape the fury of Cyclone Vayu has miffed Indian fishermen, who allege the government has facilitated the vessels to trespass and fish in Indian waters.

The Federation of Indian Fishing Industry, an umbrella body of mechanised boat operators, has decided to meet Union Minister for Fisheries Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and demand measures to stop foreign trawlers from fishing in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) --- that is 200 nautical miles from the coast.

An inspection of the catch revealed the Chinese vessels had huge stock of fish endemic to Indian waters.

“If the vessels were outside the EEZ, they would’ve sought shelter on the Oman coast as the distance is only 70 nautical miles. Our representatives had an opportunity to visit the vessels along with Coast Guard officers and they were shocked to see its modern facilities. They’ve a storage capacity of 80,000 tonnes and follow destructive fishing practices, which can spell doom for our fishing community,” said the federation’s vice- president Joseph Xavier Kalapurackal, who is also general secretary of All Kerala Fishing Boat Operators’ Association.

“The boats are equipped with 500,000-watt LED lights and illegal fishing gears. They’ve squid jigging equipment, purse seine and pelagic fishing nets and devices to catch dolphin --- an endangered marine mammal. The crew hail from Indonesia and China and most of them do not possess valid travel documents including passports. It is said diplomatic talks are on to release the 200 odd crew members,” he said.

“These vessels dip high-voltage LED lights into the waters to attract the entire fish stocks to the area. India has banned the use of lights for fishing and the Kerala Fisheries Department imposes `2.5 lakh as fine on boats found equipped with lights and pelagic nets,” said Xavier.

Indian fisherme say around 25 lakh tonnes of Oceanic squid and purple back flying squid are available in the Central Arabian sea, extending from 280 nautical miles (NM) northwest of Kochi and 180 NM west of Mangaluru.

“China and Taiwan are exploiting our fishing resources and if the Union Government makes a policy decision allowing Indian fishers to undertake targeted squid fishery, it’ll help the industry tide over the present crisis. And the Chinese trawlers travel around 20,000 km from the northern side of Bay of Bengal to fish in Central Arabian sea since it’s extremely profitable,” said Munambam Boat Owners’ Coordination Committee chairman P P Gireesh.

The state executive meeting of All Kerala Fishing Boat Operators’ Association will meet in Kochi on July 2 to discuss the issue and has decided to organise a protest march to The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute on the same day.

“The Coast Guard has urged the CMFRI to inspect the catch in the Chinese boats and submit a report on the issue. Many Chinese vessels have been fishing in the Central Arabian Sea.” said CMFRI principal scientist K Sunil Muhammad.

The Navy had contacted CMFRI seeking suggestions for continuous monitoring. The Coast Guard should improve patrolling along the Indian coast,” he said.