KOCHI: In view of the lockdown from Monday midnight, fishing harbours in the district, including Munambam Harbour, will close down on Tuesday afternoon after the last of the boats return.
The state government had directed cancellation of auctioning and asked the catch to be sold off at a fixed rate. However, citing social obligation, the fisherfolk under the aegis of Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi (TUCI) decided to anchor all their boats.
“Earlier, it was fish drought that hit fishers’ earnings. Now Covid-19 has dealt a massive blow,” said Charles George, president,TUCI. Eariler, fishing harbours at Chellanam and Thoppumpady had closed, he said. “The fishing harbour at Kalamukku closed down on Monday and Munambam will close on Tuesday,” he added.
He said from the health angle, fishermen from Thengapattinam fishing in Kerala waters have been asked not to come to the Kochi coast. “They have been asked to dock at Thengapattinam till Easter gets over,” he said.
“These are bad days for the over 1.5 lakh fisherfolk in the state,” said Charles. He said he has written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Fisheries Minister J Mercy Kutty Amma seeking financial package for the fisherfolk.
Maja Jose, deputy director, Fisheries Department, Ernakulam, said the fishers voluntarily decided to close down the harbours. “Once the boats that have gone out return, Munambam harbour will close by Tuesday afternoon,” said Maja.
Alex Thomas of Daily Fish, said with boats not going out to the sea there will be no fresh catch. “This will lead to a decrease in availability, which will affect the online delivery also. As per our calculation we have stocks to last a month,” he said.
