Acontroversy is brewing between the traditional and commercial fishermen inSindhudurg over the type of nets used for netting fish.
Forthe last 14 years the traditional fishermen have been opposing their commercialcounterparts who have been using purse seine net to bring in their catch fromthe sea.
Thetraditional fishermen have also taken their battle to court against the use of purseseine nets.
Thetraditional fishermen are opposed to purse seine nets because even the tiniestof fish gets trapped in the net. Obviously the commercial fishermen are at theadvantage, as they come out with a much larger catch.
“Bycatching small fish the commercial fishermen are destroying the ecology and theenvironment. The small fish is not given time to grow and therefore fishpopulation decreases in the sea,” the traditional fishermen complained.
Thetraditional fishermen use nets which have larger meshes while purse seine nets aremade of very fine meshes. Even the tiniest fish get caught in a purse seine netas opposed to the traditional fishermen’s net. There is also a higher chance oftrapping bycatch from the sea in purse seine nets.
Thepurse seine net is 1 to 1.5 kilometer in length.
Thecommercial fishermen catch 15-20 tons of fish at a time by using a purse seinenet. This is equivalent to one week’s total catch of 300 traditional fishermenput together.
Insteadof banning the use of this net, State governments have welcomed the use of purseseine nets. They have even given subsidy to the fishermen to buy the nets.
Purseseine nets has raked in huge profits to commercial fishermen and this hasencouraged some non-fishing community to venture into fishing business.
In1980-81 fishermen in Kerala started using purse seine nets. Soon in 1983 Goaand Karnataka fishermen followed in using purse seine nets. Slowly fishermenfrom Maharashtra also began using purse seine nets.
“We don’t want purse seine nets which isdestroying the natural growth of fish in the sea. For the last 14 years we havebeen opposing the use of the net,” a traditional fisherman said.
Purseseine net faces opposition in many parts of the country. The NationalFishermen’s Forum has also opposed the use of the net.
Thereare 30 fishermen in the Sindhudurg who use purse seine nets. 21 of them have bignets and 9 smaller ones. The cost of the net is nearly Rs 4-5 lakhs.
“NationalFishermen Forum has taken up the issue and we hope the traditional fishermenwill soon get justice for their struggle,” said Ramesh Dhuri, a member of NFF. TheWorking Fishermen Committee is also pursuing the issue.
“Thegovernment should look into the issue by taking into account the environmentaland the employment factor and find a reasonable solution to the problem,” saidNyanesh Deulkar, a fishermen leader.
