Ban ends, yet fishers keep sea at bay

NAGAPATTINAM: The 61-day long annual fishing ban in eastern coastal States came to an end on Monday. But the fishers have not got back to their routine as normalcy is yet to return. The mechanised boat fishers in all three coastal delta districts — Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Karaikal— have deferred their plans of fishing for at least two weeks. All thanks to Covid-induced lockdown because of which they were not able to get their boats repaired/maintained or avail loans for it.  

“All the repair units near Nagapattinam, Poompuhar and Pazhaiyar harbours are shut down due to lockdown. We have hardly received loans to repair our boats,” said S Mohandas, a boat owner from Akkaraipettai in Nagapattinam district. The boat owners usually repair and overhaul their trawlers and gillnetters during the two-month ban period. A very few boat owners have availed their loans under Kisan Credit Card Scheme in the two districts. The rest are willing to spend on their own or take interest from private lenders. However, in Karaikal, where shops were allowed to be open within permitted hours, availability of spare parts was a major issue. 

Seafood export hit

Due to travel restrictions, major seafood companies/exporters could not reach out to coastal district to procure seafood. Three such companies based in Tuticorin usually visit Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai to procure seafood items such as squids, cuttlefishes, prawns, shrimps for export to foreign countries. As both the districts were among the 11 districts with strict restrictions, the companies have postponed their visits. “Our procurers are the same who procure from Nagapattinam. Since they are not coming to procure, our mechanised boats are also not going to fish,” said K Murali, a fisher from Kilinjalmedu in Karaikal district.

Not all vaccinated 

Adherence to Covid guidelines is always seen as a challenge in fishing harbours. The less amount of vaccination rollout has made the fisher panchayats to think a lot about resuming fishing. “It is not possible to follow guidelines like social distancing all the time in congested places like fishing harbours and landing centres. We do not become new sources of the spread of the virus. We request the State to vaccinate us before we resume fishing,” said R Raja, a member of Tharangambadi fishing panchayat in Mayiladuthurai. In Karaikal, the health department held an intensive vaccination drive in 11 fishing hamlets.