THOOTHUKUDI: The demand for sea ambulances is getting louder in this coastal district so that emergencies on the high seas could be attended to immediately.
The services of the sea ambulance may save the lives of many fishermen. Often, lives are lost as precious time is lost before emergency responders could be deployed amid SOS alerts.
Thoothukudi district, which has a coastline of 163.5 km stretching from Vembar in the north down to Manappad in the south along the Gulf of Mannar, has 21 fishing hamlets actively engaging in fishing. Over 4,500 motorised country craft fishing boats, 350 mechanised gill net fishing vessels and 200 mechanised bottom trawlers are involved in fishing. Nearly 10,000 fishermen venture into sea every day to eke out a living, besides, 500 conch divers are involved in collection of dead conches and chanks from the seabed, according to officials.
While the country boat fishermen fish in the territorial waters that extend to 12 nautical miles, the mechanised vessel fishermen go to the high seas travelling more than 10 hours, whereas the gill netters stay in the high seas for multiple days.
As per the cultural traditions, the fishermen stop fishing and return to shore immediately when one loses life in the mid-sea. When a fisherman goes missing or drowns in the sea, they search for the body with the support of the nearby fishermen in the sea. Sometimes, the association sponsors the search operations.
When fishermen onboard suffer serious illness, heart ailments, and breathing troubles, the fishing crew return to shore travelling several hours to admit them in the hospitals. “By the time they reach the shore, the health condition of the fisherman worsens, which often leads to deaths,” says a fisherman.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) rescues fishermen stranded in mid-seas due to technical glitches of boats. However, they can not be relied on all the time as they are primarily involved in protecting the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
In case of emergencies, only the nearby fishing vessels help to search for the missing fisherman, and to tow the boat stranded due to technical faults, or that has met with accidents. Nearly 10 fishermen die due to illness or accidents in the high seas every month, said Anthony Churchil of Tharuvaikulam St Nicholas gill net fishermen association.
Fisher activist Anthony Lawrence of Tharuvaikulam told TNIE that the sea ambulance is necessary for Thoothukudi district, since hundreds of fishermen venture into sea from here in a day. Their safety is at stake during heavy winds, poor climate triggered by cyclones, and natural calamities. The fishermen who fall sick and languish at sea more than 100 nautical miles away could be saved if they get proper medication during the golden hour. “The intevention of sea ambulances would reduce the travelling hours to get emergency treatment, thus the lives of several fishermen could be saved,” he added.
Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare Minister A Srinath recently hinted that a proposal for sea ambulance is under discussion. “The state government has to give the nod and allocate funds to operate the sea ambulance,” said a fisheries department official.