Fishermen seek alternative solution to livelihoods before clamp on bottom trawling

Green activists warn fishing stock will get
depleted if bottom trawling not banned

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

As Sri Lanka raised the bogey of bottom trawling to resolve the fishermen issue between New Delhi and Colombo, Indian fishermen feel any ban of bottom trawling would have serious impact on the livelihood of fishermen while green activists feel if the government turns a blind eye to bottom trawling then it will pose a danger to marine ecology and deplete the fishing stock.

M D Dayalan, president of Indian Fishermen Association feels that any decision on bottom trawling should be taken only after providing an alternative solution to the fishermen whose livelihood is at stake.

Tamil Nadu has estimated 50,000 fishing villages and 15,000 trawlers operating from Chennai to Kanyakumari.

Zoological Survey of India director K Venkatraman is for sustainable fishing practice but feels the issue about livelihood of fishermen should not be forgotten. “We have 50,000 coastal villages and 15,000 trawlers operating. Already agriculture has been hit and many farmers have resorted to fishing. If such a ban is implemented without any alternate means it will impact the livelihood. Where will the people go,” he reasons.

“We have 33 different acts for conservation of biodiversity. Let that be implemented rather than going in for an immediate ban on bottom trawling,” says Venkatraman.

Dayalan says that Sri Lanka wants us to go in for Gill netting and hook and line fishing. “But this requires more area. The gap between each ship should be one kilometer and this won’t be feasible and could create further complications,” says Dayalan. Interestingly, the density of trawlers in the region is quite high as per the census carried out by Central Marine Fisheries Institute. As per the data, the density of trawlers in the South West Bay of Bengal is 102 per 1000 square km of continental shelf area than in the North West Bay of Bengal  which is 65 per 1000 square km.

Even if ban on bottom trawling is implemented in areas like Rameshwaram and other areas where the International Maritime Boundary Line violation happens, it is not feasible. The depth of Sri Lankan waters is much less and is not suitable for hook and line fishing and Gill netting. Dayalan says the area is more suited for bottom trawling.

But does it mean a solution is not possible over this issue. Dayalan says that it is possible, provided the government provides subsidies in modification of the trawlers which are equipped for bottom sea trawls. “We know it is also dangerous for the environment but then the changeover to Gill net and hook and line should be done step by step. Government should bear the cost of ship modification besides incentivizing deep sea fishing,” says Dayalan.

Interestingly, bottom trawling does pose a major threat to sea ecology. And fishermen agree. Currently, all trawlers are mechanized with the engine placed inboard. The fishery exploits species that widely vary in their life history traits and habitats.

Approximately 800 species of elasmobranchs, teleosts, crustaceans, molluscs and echinoderms are taken by the trawls, and at least 300 species contribute to the fishery.

Tree Foundation’s Supraja Dharini says the state fisheries department also knows about the danger of bottom trawling. She says many rare species may become extinct and the fishing stock will be depleted if the government does not wake up and ban bottom trawling.

“The government should also bring in a regulation on the mesh size. Those manufacturing such nets should be made to follow it,” she says. But with the government grappling on whether to give importance to ecology or livelihood, green activists warn if nothing is being done now then there will be no fish in the plate for the next generation.

Box:

--- Bottom trawling is a type of industrial fishing that is prominent in today’s world. Under bottom trawling, large nets which are attached to boats are dragged on the seafloor or just above the sea floor to catch species that reside anywhere from 50 to 6,000 feet below the surface.

--- Because more than 98 percent of marine animal species live in, on, or immediately above the seafloor, anything that causes significant harm to the seafloor profoundly damages the health of ocean ecosystems as a whole.

--- In India bottom trawling was promoted to boost the fisheries sector

--- Loans were available to fishermen and now majority of the fishing community’s livelihood depends on bottom trawling

--- Bottom trawling has also been an issue between the Western world and developing nations like India. Many officials feel any ban will have severe impact on the fisheries sector. But NGOs feel if the government fails to act then the days won’t be far when all the fishing stock would have got depleted.

--- Currently, a total of 15,000 trawlers operate from Chennai to Kanyakumari. Each trawler can accommodate nearly 12 fishermen. If economically calculated the trawlers employ more than 1.5 lakh people and an estimated 20 lakh people are dependent  on it.

--- The state also has 21,000 officialy declared fibre boats which use gill nets for fishing besides 5,000 boats that don’t use the motor