Thiruvananthapuram: The coastal police and coast guards, despite flaunting high speed vessels had failed to check fleets of illegal trawlers that engaged in destructive fishing close to the shore, alleged fishermen. Tension prevailed at Valiyathura as around 15 trawlers were spotted engaging in illegal fishing around 2km close to the shore on Saturday. The trawlers have to fish around 22 kms away from the shore. The trawlers came to siphon off squid and other creatures that come to lay eggs post monsoon. Unlike men in country boats, the trawler nets destroy eggs and the seabed ecosystem close to the shore, activists said.
Mysteriously, the trawlers fled the scene around 10 minutes after the coastal police was alerted by the local church. “Throughout the week fishermen have been spotting trawlers close to the coast and we wonder what kind of patrol the officials are doing,” pointed out Robert Panippilla, chief coordinator of Friends of Marine Life. The situation posed a severe law and order issue as in the past decades local fishermen would seize and sink the trawlers. “Today’s trawlers come in fleets. So skirmishes can be bigger and prove costly,” the activist added.
Coastal police officials said that the marine enforcement had apprehended one of the trawlers which did not have valid documents.
“This trawler might have communicated with others helping them to escape. Our party has been conducting patrols based on the complaint received over phone,” an official added. Fishermen claimed that they had just started to get a good catch of squid this week, when trawlers entered their area.
