SRIKAKULAM: Fifty fishermen, including a few minors, from the district have died in Veraval and other areas in Gujarat, Odisha and Tamil Nadu while fishing since 1998. Majority of them died by falling off the boats into the water while venturing into sea for fishing. Despite the fatal incidents, about 10,000 fishermen from the district migrated to Gujarat and other states for livelihood every year between August and April.
Even young women have become widows with the death of their spouses in the deep sea. About 35 fishermen have died while fishing in the district since 2007. To compound the tragedy, the compensation was not released for about 30 per cent of the families due to various reasonsCheekati Malahalaxmi a 24-year-old fish woman of Kunduvani Peta in Gara mandal became a widow after her husband Cheekati Sudhakar (28) died after falling from the boat during fishing in Veraval on December 13, 2015.
“Due to extreme poverty I could neither go to Veraval to have a last look nor could bring his body to the village,” she told TNIE. “However, with the help of the village heads I could get the death certificate of my husband from the Gujarat government,” she added.
“I didn’t get even a single rupee in the form of compensation either from the government or by the Fisheries Board or by the owner of the boat. I have two girl children and a boy who is diabled. I am finding it difficult to manage the family with no job, we had shifted to my maternal house a few months after the death of my husband,” she said.
G Chinnammadu of Balarampuram village in Gara mandal is another example.
She said her husband G Vykuntha Rao (45) died at Mangaluru of Karnataka, while fishing in the deep sea in April 2015.