Ban on trawling from today

Thiruvananthapuram, June 14 : The seasonal ban on trawling aimed at regeneration of marine fish resources off the Kerala coast would come into force from midnight today.

Scores of trawlers that had ventured into the sea two to three days back had returned to the coast with the 45-day ban on trawling coming into force.

The monsoon ban had always been a cause of tension in the coastal areas and it had continued to be controversial with the different sections of the fishing community opposing and favouring it.

The police and also the Marine Enforcement wing of the Fisheries Department had been alerted and more personnel had been posted at sensitive coastal areas. The Coast Guard had also been asked to monitor trawlers which violated the ban. All the trawlers from other states off the Kerala coast had been asked to leave the coast by today.

Meanwhile, Fisheries Minister S Sarma said control rooms would be opened at district headquarters to monitor the ban. All possible steps would be taken to check foreign trawlers from entering the coastal waters, he added.

The ban, being imposed for the 18th consecutive year, would render thousands of workers on the trawlers and in the fish processing units jobless. While the men who had worked in the trawlers would at least find job in the catamarans and other traditional fishing boats, it is mainly the women folk who would be rendered jobless.

The ban on trawling in Kerala came into force in 1988 after a contention that reckless trawling had caused the destruction of fish eggs and the fishlings during the season.

UNI