'Fishing holiday not possible along Kerala coast'

Kerala has informed the Centre that the proposed 65-day fishing holiday is not acceptable to the state, Fisheries Minister K V Thomas, told the Assembly today.

Kerala has informed the Centre that the proposed 65-day fishing holiday is not acceptable to the state, Fisheries Minister KV Thomas, told the Assembly today.

HT Image

A fishing holiday was not desirable as it was during the monsoon season that the state reaped a rich harvest of shrimp, coinciding with a marine phenomenon known in local parlance as 'chakara,' he said.

The state, however, had been enforcing a 45-day monsoon season trawling in its territorial waters for the last several years. This had helped check depletion of fish stock during the breeding season.

The Fisheries Department had made it clear that the proposed ilmenite sand mining project along the Alapuzha coast would be given clearance only after a detailed study of all its aspects and discussions with the coastal population and unions, he said.

Thomas denied the charge that government had a secret understanding with mechanised boat owners concerning fishing operations during the ban season. He said a majority of traditional fishworkers co-operated with the monsoon trawling ban.

The ban is in force in the state's territorial waters, which stretched upto 22 km and the deep sea beyond that limit was in the Centre's purview. Still, the state had been in touch with the Navy and Coast Guard to ensure that factory vessels did not haul fish stock during the ban period.