Around 1,000 trawlers went ashore this weekend to lie idle for the next 52 days when the annual ban on trawling came into force on Sunday midnight.
In Kozhikode district, hundreds of migrant labourers, mostly from West Bengal, will soon return to their native villages to find odd jobs to survive the lean season. For native fishers and allied workers, the ban opens a season of financial stress.
“What we are going to miss during this period is the daily allowance of ₹500 plus a share of 40% of profit we get after each trip. The savings thus made do not last more than a week,” said T.P. Unni, a fisherman from Puthiyappa who works at the Beypore harbour. For him, a way to manage the crisis is pawning his wife’s gold ornaments. Though Kerala has an extensive coastal belt of 590 km and an estimated population of 8.55 lakh fishermen, an action plan or a package for crisis management during the trawl ban period is still a distant dream. When a few of them manage the situation with their humble savings or borrowed money, others go for odd jobs. For many, it is still a leap in the dark with no means of survival.
According to fishers at the Puthiyappa harbour, the sole aid they get from the government during the lean season is the free ration and a portion of the relief amount below ₹5,000 for which they have to pay premium. There is no guarantee that the ration will reach them, the fishers said, adding that there were occasions when relief aids were distributed after the trawl ban period.
Though the total number of fishers in Kozhikode district is around 30,000, they often fail to find alternative vocations to survive the season. A few temporary vocational schemes of the Fisheries Department have not made considerable progress. In addition, the facilities at Puthiyappa, Vellayil, Beypore, Koyilandy and Chombal harbours are not sufficient to anchor hundreds of fishing boats during the trawl ban period.
Charles George, president of Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi, said fish workers in allied sectors were badly in need of supportive schemes during the trawl ban period. “There are over one-and-a-half lakh active labourers in allied sectors, and they have no membership in any government welfare schemes. Their employers in the marine business too are strategic enough to evade responsibilities and influence government functionaries for their business alone,” he claimed.
K. Rajan, State vice president of Matsya Thozhilali Congress, held the State government accountable for not considering an interim relief or fund for the welfare of fishermen during the trawl ban period.
“The government even cancelled an earlier support scheme named ‘Thanal’ implemented successfully by the previous government,” he said.