THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The increased demand for fish from coastal villages in the district has raised concern as the authorities try to contain cases in which source of infection remains unknown. Compared to the other districts, the trawling ban period is a fishing season here due to the ideal sea condition for small boats.“The fishing community is vigilant about the spread of infection. But crowding happens during the sales,” said Kerala Swatantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation general secretary Jackson Pollayil. “All the cautions are thrown to the wind when open bidding happens at the landing centres. If anything goes wrong, it is going to be tough to contain the disease spread in coastal areas.”
Though the government has prohibited open bidding during the pandemic and started a token system for sales, the system was not followed in all landing centres and harbours except in Kollam, said Jackson. According to him, myths related to medicinal properties of seawater have encouraged fishermen to lower the guard as the demand increased. “The sea is rough these days. But once it gets better, more fishermen will go for fishing and it would attract more people to the landing centres,” said Jackson.
V S Sivakumar, MLA, demanded stringent measures such as triple lockdown in the entire coastal area. According to him, the facilities of hospitals in the coastal areas should be improved to meet the needs. Over 35,000 people are living under the limits of Poonthura hospital, he said. A fish seller from Poonthura tested positive for Covid-19 on July 1 and his relative also tested positive within two days raising concerns among public.