KOCHI: A week after fishing activities resumed in the state after the 52-day-long monsoon trawl ban, the festive cheer in harbours is missing and the fishing community continues to struggle in the sea of despair. Low catch due to dwindling marine resources, high operations cost, disruption of market due to Covid situation and tumbling prices have added to the woes of the fishing community.
Though mechanised fishing activities resumed in the state on July 31 midnight, around 50 per cent of fishing boats are yet to venture into the sea as the owners are unable to complete the repair work of the vessels due to financial distress. Only a few vessels that resumed fishing activities have returned with good catch. But the prices started stumbling after the initial days due to low demand.
“The boats are getting threadfin bream, small shrimp and anchovy. But the size of the species is very small. The auction price of small shrimp started at Rs 80 per kg and has plunged to Rs 25. Threadfin bream gets Rs 85 per kg. Surprisingly, cuttlefish and sardines have disappeared. The deep sea fishing vessels will be returning only next week and we hope they get some good catch,” said All Kerala Fishing Boat Operators Association vice-president Paul Rajan.
Though the fishing activities have resumed, most of the shrimp peeling units are yet to open due to lockdown restrictions. Meanwhile, many workers who were previously employed in the sector have joined employment guarantee scheme as the peeling units remained shut for more than a year which affected their livelihood. Most of the processing units have been holding stock for the past few months due to lack of demand in the export sector. The ban imposed by China on 37 export firms alleging Covid contamination of packing material has added to the woes of the exporters. All these factors have a cascading effect on the fishing sector.
Another issue is exploitation by middlemen. The traders have been charging 13 per cent brokerage for sale of fish and recently hiked the share to 16 per cent. As the boat owners refused to pay the increased amount, the traders refused to procure the fish for two days. The boat owners had to sell the catch at a cheaper rate to fishmeal factories in Mangaluru. Later the traders deferred the decision for two weeks. The fishing boat operators association has submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister seeking to end the exploitation by traders.
“The traders purchase the shrimp for Rs 25 from us and sell it in the market for Rs 140. The people who toil fighting the elements are not getting a fair price. The government should intervene and end this exploitation. The price of diesel has gone up by Rs 30 in a year and the expense of a day-long fishing expedition has crossed Rs 1 lakh. The operational cost is rising and rarely do we get some profit,” said association general secretary Joseph Xavier Kalappurakal.
Meanwhile fishermen said that many species have migrated from Kerala coast due to climate change. While the volume of catch in Kerala has dropped drastically, there is an increase in landing in Tamil Nadu. A study by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) last year had found migration of oil sardine species to Tamil Nadu coast.
“There has been a decrease in the size of various fish species in Kerala coast during recent years. This could be an adverse effect of climate change. There is a need for a study on the impact of climate change on fish species in the west coast,” said scientist and CMFRI demersal fisheries division head P U Zacharia.