Penalties for unregistered fishing boats

THOOTHUKUDI: Around 85 unregistered mechanised boats from Thoothukudi fishing harbour which ventured into the sea for fishing would be considered illegal and necessary action against them would be taken as per the law, warned the Thoothukudi district collector, who too ordered the fisheries department to suspend the supply of subsidised diesel for those unregistered boats.

Around 245 mechanised boats in Thoothukudi abstained from fishing continuously for nine months since September 20, 2017, demanding ‘night stay fishing’ and permission to register all the boats irrespective of their size and engine power. The mechanised boat owners’ associations too filed a case at the Madras high court bench at Madurai seeking the court’s direction to the State fisheries department in this regard.

To the dismay of the mechanised boat owners, the court instructed the Tamil Nadu state fisheries department to strictly adhere to the norms as per the Tamil Nadu Marine Regulation act 1983. However, to help the fishermen the Tamil Nadu, government made an amendment increasing the stipulated length of a mechanised boat to 24 m from the previous 20 m and the engine power to 240 Hp from the earlier limit of150 Hp.

As per the new amendment, the Fisheries department in Thoothukudi received 100 new applications for registration, according to the district collector, Sandeep Nanduri, who added that the scrutiny of the applications were on for the new registration. “However we had strictly warned the boats that failed to comply the norms as per new amendment against indulging in fishing activity,” he said.

Despite the warnings by the collector and the state Fisheries department, around 85 unregistered boats ventured for fishing along with 92 registered boats on Monday (June 25). According to the Fisheries department officials here, the 85 unregistered oversized boats procured diesel from the open market as they could not avail the subsidised diesel allotted for the registered boats.

The officials expressed their helplessness against the norm violators as there were very few to oversee at the fishing harbour and without any police force.

“Those violating fishermen however would face the consequences,” said the district collector, adding, he would decide the punishment for fishermen who went on illegal fishing using their unregisteredn boats, after consulting with police officials and the Fisheries department officers. Citing similar kind of violations by the country craft boats too, he said that the administration would not spare even the oversized country-crafts in the district.

Members of the ‘Thoothukudi Mechanised Boat Owners Association’ and ‘Annai Theresa Mechanised Boat Owners Association’ that extended full cooperation to the fisheries department, welcomed the collector’s statement as they feel it would regulate the fishing industry in Thoothukudi. But members of the ‘Deep Sea Mechanised Boats Fishing Development Association’ vi ewed the collector’s statement as creating a negative impact on their livelihood. They urged the state Fisheries department to issue special orders to register all mechanised boats in the overall interests of the fishing industry in Thoothukudi.