Fishing activities come to halt as season ends

Mangalore, June 10 (UNI) Mechanised fishing activities along the Karnataka coast came to a grinding halt today following a ban on the use of 'mechamised boats' during this monsoon season.

The season had not been a good one for fishermen community here mainly due to decreased catch of exotic fish which had resulted in low profits for the large number of fisherfolk in the near 200-km long Karnataka coast.

The catch had been showing a declining trend for the last few years due to low harvest of common fishes like 'sardines', 'mackerel' and even 'white prawns'. The low yield has led to drastic decline in profits of the poor fishermen.

According to Dakshina Kannada Deputy Director of Fisheries Suresh Kumar, the total catch for 2006-07 in the district was 88,972 tonne valued at Rs 338.54 crore while in Udupi District it was 52.311 tonne worth Rs 171.09 crore.

The fishermen community and its leadership attributes the poor catch to increased activity of deep-sea foreign trawlers which were skimming the sea for exotic fish.

Vasudeva Boloor and Janardhan Tingalaya, fishermen leaders at Malpe, told UNI that due to poor catch, most of the fishing boats had already stopped their activity and returned to the shore much earlier before the ban came into effect in the just concluded season.

Only 600 to 1200 boats had ventured into sea for fishing. Due to the poor catch, the boat owners were not even able to meet the diesel cost and crew expenditure.

Mr Boloor said at least 90 foreign trawlers and 50 industrial fishing companies were engaged in fishing in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone in the coastal district throughout monsoon season which resulted in the low harvest of profitable fishes for the poor fishermen.

Supporting the fishermen, experts at Fisheries College here say that irrational and over fishing by unsustainable methods by the foreign vessels in deep sea was the main reason for the deep fall in the catch since last few years.

They were of the view that prevailing sea temperature and nutrient could have yielded better catch.

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