THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the Harbour Engineering Department has initiated the feasibility study for a fishing harbour in Pozhiyoor at Kulathoor grama panchayath, fisher community has come out with reservations against the same. The fishermen said that the Department has to initiate an impact assessment of the harbour before progressing with the study.
“The fisher community at large is against the idea of setting up new fishing harbours in the state,” said Anto Elias, state working president, Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation. “Before mooting new harbour proposals, the Fisheries Department should take stock of the operational status of existing harbours in the state. Our point is that the Pozhiyoor fishing harbour project could only help to drain the state’s exchequer,” adds Anto.
According to him, though a considerable sum of money was spent on for the setting up of Muthalapozhi harbour, it is yet to become fully operational. Also, the harbour is a ‘black spot’, according to the fishermen community, as fishing vessels have capsized during strong tides, throwing the fishermen into the sea, said him.
However, the Fisheries Department said the said harbour will not only prove helpful for fishers from Kollamkode in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu but also from Pozhiyoor, Poovar, Karimkulam, Kochuthura, Puthiyathura, Pallam and Pulluvila. They also add that the new harbour can help to ease the congestion at the Vizhinjam fishing harbour during the peak season.
However, Harbour Engineering Department’s chief engineer P K Anilkumar said the fishing community’s concerns were unwarranted one as the feasibility study also covers the impact the harbour had on the fishers living near it.
“We plan to complete the investigatio and model study before March. The findings will be handed over to the Central Water and Power Research Station. The numerical data collection also studies the effects of wave transmission is also progressing,” said Anilkumar. It is learnt that the Harbour Engineering Department is also working on the investigation works for setting up fishing harbours at Valiyathura, Poonthura and Varkala-Chilakkoor.