Fishermen, from Neerody and Marthandamthurai, two most western coastal villages in Kanniyakumari district, ventured into the sea on December 9 and on December 13, in a mechanised boat and when they were fishing 17 nautical miles off the coast of Goa, a boat full of masked pirates with no registration number approached the fishermen and robbed their properties at gun point. 

“Ten masked men speaking Hindi in a white colour boat approached us and at gun point robbed our properties, including fishing nets, fish and more than 500 litres of diesel. Total loss suffered by our fishermen is more than Rs 5 lakh,” Christudasan, owner of the boat, involved in the incident said. 

The incident sent shivers across the community as fishermen claim that along with properties, the technical instruments fitted in the boat such as GPS, wireless and aerial instruments were damaged to prevent fishermen from passing on the information to the nearby coast. The fishermen left without diesel did not get any help from coastal protection agencies. 

“We have lost hopes on Indian Coast Guard and Navy when it comes to distress for Indian fishermen. In the recent past, these security agencies have not been useful for Indian fishermen and have not saved either the properties or lives of Indian fishermen,” said Nanjil P Ravi, executive president, All India Fishermen Association. However, Fisheries Director J Jayakanthan had no idea that such an incident happened. “I did not receive any information about the incident and no such incident was reported to me,” he said. Meanwhile, Deputy Director (Fisheries) of Kanniyakumari district, Kasinath, when asked about it said, that the coast guard officials in Cochin, Goa and Mumbai were informed about the incident and they were asked to take steps to prevent such incidents in future. 

The lackluster attitude of Fisheries director was criticised by fishermen representatives. P Justin Antony, president, International Fishermen Development Trust, who took up the issue of sea piracy in United Nations, said that he had personally sent e-mails to all the officials and Ministers including Fisheries Director, but it is severely condemnable that Fisheries director had not even seen the mail. 

“The attitude of Fisheries Department shows their responsibility towards Tamil Nadu fishermen and it is pathetic that they were not aware of such a sensitive incident like piracy at sea. State government should immediately take action against such officials,” urged Justin Antony. 

When Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar was contacted, he was not available for reply.