Fishing harbours active after trawling ban ended

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 16 (UNI) Fishing harbours and fish landing centres along the Kerala coast, where about 5,000 trawlers were berthed for the last 62 days, became active again with the end of trawling ban last night.

Trawlers ventured into the sea from midnight itself after the ban came to an end, sources said, adding that though a good catch was not expected in the coming days, there was still hope.

While the state government had imposed the ban till July 30, the Supreme Court ordered the ban to be extended by 15 days.

Though there was widespread protest among the fishing community against the extension of the ban and some of the unions had decided to defy it, contending that the fishworkers were facing starvation, no untoward incident was reported from any part of the state.

The monsoon ban, imposed for the 18th consecutive time, had always been a cause of tension in the coastal areas and it had continued to be controversial with different sections of the fishing community opposing and favouring it.

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

UNI PN ROY MS1309