Rameswram: Painful ironies keep repeating themselves for the fishermen’s community of Rameswram and its neighbouring Ramanathapuram.
Even as the 61-day fishing ban period for mechanised boats along Tamil Nadu’s east coast draws to a close on Friday, fishers getting ready to put out to sea from Saturday, are disenchanted as there is not enough diesel supply at the state-run petrol pumps here.
The fishing ban operates between April to June 15 every year, as it is said to be the breeding season for fishes. Fishermen respect that ecological constraint and even as they wish to cooperate with the authorities in getting their quota of subsidised diesel, the state-run bunks to their dismay here are running dry today.
“If we have to depend on the private bunks, then we won't be able to get diesel (for our mechanised boats) at the susbdised price, which in turn affects the economics of our fish catch,” say mechanised boats fishermen's association leaders. “Fishing is, as every year passes on in the shadow of the Sri Lankan Navy's atrocities and the weather unpredictability, getting to be unviable for us as a means of livelihood,” rues N Devadoss one of their leaders.
