Over two lakh traditional fishermen across the three coastal districts in Karnataka have been hit hard by non-availability of catch throughout the fishing season starting August and have urged the government to come to their rescue by declaring “fish famine.”
“In the last four decades, we have not seen fish famine as serious as this,” said Mohan Kharvi from the Traditional Fishermen Association, Maravanthe, one of the important fishing villages in Udupi district. Traditional fishermen normally venture into the sea very early in the morning, around 2 a.m. and return to the shore once they get sufficient catch. “Most of the days, we have returned with empty boats,” Mr. Kharvi said.
There are two kinds of traditional fishing boats along the three coastal districts — about 8,000 large boats that can accommodate up to 30 people fitted with outboard engine and about 9,000 conventional boats ( paathi doni ) that can hold two-three persons either fitted with small outboard engines or without engines.
While they give direct employment to over two lakh people, at least 10 lakh depend on them for livelihood.
Stating that the Fisheries Department has no data on traditional fishermen’s catch, Shobendra Sasihithlu from Sasihithlu Traditional Fishermen Cooperative Society near Mangaluru demanded an immediate survey to know the ground reality. “Fishermen have not even got ₹25,000 during the season,” he said. Fishermen could not venture out owing to turbulent sea till November. Thereafter, no catch was available, he said.
The government is yet to pay money to fishermen under the savings-cum-relief scheme since 2017, Mr. Sasihithlu said. The Centre, State, and fishermen member of a fishing cooperative society equally contribute ₹1,500 during the three months of monsoon towards the scheme. In all, ₹13,500 is to be paid to about 27,000 fishermen.
Many reasons for famine
In its recent report, College of Fisheries, Mangaluru, noted that higher atmospheric temperature had led to increased carbon dioxide concentration making water acidic with lower dissolved oxygen levels, thus affecting primary productivity. Conventional marine species were thus affected with non-availability of phytoplankton, zooplankton and other micro organism components.
This, apart from factors such as unregulated and erratic fishing and increase in seawater temperature, are cited as the reasons for dwindling marine population.
Though banned, light fishing where large fishing vessels use LED lights to attract fish, still goes on across the coast thereby affecting traditional fishermen, said Shobendra Sasihithlu, a traditional fisherman near Mangaluru. Catching of juvenile fish, thereby affecting further growth, still continues even as recommendations from the Centre for Marine Fish Research Institute on regulating mesh size of fish nets are yet to be strictly implemented.
