Uncertainty over fishing ops from Aug 1

Mangaluru/ Udupi: Uncertainty shrouds resumption of deep-sea fishing off Karnataka coast with the 47-day fishing holiday ending on July 31. To tide over the situation, fishermen representatives and stakeholders in DK will meet on Wednesday to decide the future course of action. Their Udupi counterparts have already decided on their strategy during a meeting on July 20.
Representatives of purse seine boat owners and other stakeholders will take a call on resuming fishing from August 1 at this meeting, Nitin Kumar, president, Mangaluru Trawl Boat Owners’ Association, said. Around 4,000 workers on 1,200 fishing boats are migrant labourers from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand.
Noting that the fisheries department may extend the current fishing holiday due to Covid-19, Nitin said that it will be the duty of stakeholders to adhere to SOP to ensure Covid-free fishing operations. The meeting will explore the feasibility of postponing the operations by some more days.
Around 900 of the 1,200 boats are trawl boats with a crew complement of 8-10 members spending around 10 to 11 days in deep-sea fishing, he said. The 100-odd purse seiners with a crew complement of 25-30 fishermen are daily runners who return with their catch at the end of the day. The 200 other mechanized boats which have a crew complement of up to five fishermen are out at sea for a maximum of three days and fish in shallow waters, he explained.
The Malpe Meenugarara Sangha, parent organisation that oversees activities of 22 other organisations under it at Malpe harbour, has placed the onus on owners of all mechanised boats to ensure implementation of SOP. Sangha president Krishna Suvarna said they cannot and will not stop fishing boats venturing out for fishing from August 1 nor will it come to the aid of fishing boat owners if their crew test positive.
“Udupi DC G Jagadeesha has informally said that he will be forced to seal down the harbour if positive cases are reported at the harbour. In such a case, the boat owner will not be is a position to unload the catch and this will only compound the financial losses . This decision, taken at a meeting on July 20, has been communicated to all those concerned,” he added.