The array of lights that illuminated the southern coast of the Vembanad lake at night have finally gone off.
The prolonged battle against unauthorised fishing in the waterbody reached a major milestone with the Fisheries Department dismantling as many as 80 illegal Chinese fishing nets installed on the southern side of the Thannermukkam Barrage.
Most of the nets, according to the officials, cropped up over the last two decades and were operated by the local residents.
“In view of the complaints from conventional fishermen, we have dismantled 80 out of the 83 Chinese nets that were installed without registration and licence under the Kerala Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Act, 2010. The remaining three nets will be cleared as and when the stay order by a court against dismantling them expires,” said K.B. Ramesh, Deputy Director of Fisheries, Kottayam.
Officials said the fishing nets without licence used small-mesh nets as against the stipulated mesh size of 20 mm. “This often triggered protests by the conventional fishermen, who often accused the Chinese net operators of posing a threat to the inland fishing sector as a whole. At times, it also snowballed into direct confrontation between the two sections,” said an official.
To make sure that the illegal operators do not return to the spot, the department has launched patrolling operations around the waterbody.
Earlier attempts by the department to forcibly dismantle these unauthorised nets had to be called off following protests staged by the net operators. This time, however, they had to fall in line in view of heavy police security.
K.G. Padmakumar, director, International Research and Training Centre for Below Sea Level Farming, said the presence of Chinese nets having high-voltage LED bulbs had a disastrous impact on the fish stock especially when the shutters of the barrage were open.
“While the artificial lights were used to draw the fish stock, the small-meshed nets ensured that not even juvenile fish are spared,” he said.
He attributed the cropping up of illegal Chinese nets to lack of regulation by the agencies concerned. “While the presence of authorised nets is an effective deterrent against illegal operators, this particular location do not have even a single operator with licence to check these activities,” he said.