Members of the Cochin Fishing Harbour Coordination Committee are expected to meet Minister for Agriculture V.S. Sunil Kumar, who is coordinating anti-COVID-19 operations in the district, and Minister for Fisheries J. Mercykutty Amma on Saturday to discuss the issue of continuing restrictions on fishing operations from the Thoppumpady harbour.
Activities at Kerala’s biggest fishing harbour had only partially resumed in the second week of August after the 52-day trawling ban, pandemic restrictions, and bad-weather warnings.
District Fisheries Coordination Committee convenor Charles George said around 650 gillnet and pole and line fishing boats continued to stay idle, as fishers from the neighbouring Tamil Nadu were not allowed to use the harbour as their base for operations.
Almost the entire lot of the boats are operated by fishers from Thuthoor, Vallavila, Valiyavila and Chinnathura.
Just around 60 purse seine boats and 70 trawlers operate out of the Thoppumpady harbour now, throwing all hope of an economic revival of West Kochi into disarray, said Mr. Charles.
M. Majeed, general secretary of the Cochin Fishing Harbour Coordination Committee, said the delegation of fishers was to meet Ministers and officials earlier this week, but the pandemic spread had forced them to postpone the meeting.
The Thoppumpady harbour is the economic lifeline of West Kochi, with around 5,000 people having direct employment at the harbour and associated facilities.
Meanwhile, fishers at the Munambam fisheries harbour, under a full lockdown till September 11, also expressed regret over the current situation.
The harbour has business worth around ₹1,000 crore annually, and thousands of man-days of work are created by fishing and related activities, said P.P. Girish, Boat Owners Association secretary and chairman of the committee for protection of Munambam-Vypeen fishing zone.
He called upon the police, health and district authorities to switch to micro-containment zones and to adopt a more understanding stance on containing the pandemic while also taking into consideration the hardship faced by those depending on the harbour for their livelihood.