NAGERCOIL: The owner of a fishing boat from Thoothoor in Kanniyakumari district has submitted a petition to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other authorities seeking their intervention in retrieving his `16-lakh-worth fish catch that was seized by authorities near Ernakulam.
According to the petition sent by A Prabin, owner of a boat named 'Heaven', 14 fishers reached Cochin Harbour on his boat on March 15. "They were taken into custody by a Coast Guard team on patrol duty, and they were handed over to Assistant Director (Fisheries) Office in Vypin, Eranakulam. The authorities also confiscated `16-lakh-worth fish from the boat. The boat was registered in Gujarat, and the men had sailed to the harbour to sell fish," he said.
"The men had toiled for 25 days to catch all that fish. They did not indulge in smuggling or any anti-national activities. There was some anomaly in the document of registration, which was taken up by a Gujarati man. I request the Kerala Chief Minister to intervene in the matter and deliver justice to us poor fishermen," he urged.