Fishing season begins on a high note in Rameswaram

After 61-day fishing ban, fishermen return with prawns, facing challenges due to weather conditions and government regulations.

Following the end of 61 days of fishing ban, the first group of fishermen who had left for the sea on late Friday, landed at the Rameswaram jetty on Sunday early morning. Even before the first boat could anchor, the excitement in the area was palpable. Tricycles and tractors crowded the jetty as men jostled with each other to find a place on the pier as the boats started to come in.

About 700 mechanised boats had left the Rameswaram fishing harbour on Friday and the boat owners waiting on the shore were expecting a huge catch. Murugan, a boat helper, said that the first catch of the season on this side of the coast would be luscious prawns.

And boat after boat discharged huge quantities of prawns. On an average, each boat brings about 400 kg of prawns. After sorting out, the price was fixed at ₹250 per kg. In no time, trucks were loaded and the produce made its way to various cities. In the two months, though most of the fishermen and workers had got their ban dole of ₹8,000, many had found it difficult to make their ends meet. At the jetty many were rearing to begin work again. About 100 tricycles loaded with catch made their way from the pier to the shacks where agents and merchants made their deals. Along with the first haul of crustaceans, many nets had also caught small fish unfit for consumption. Sold for about ₹15 per kg, this was being loaded onto tractors ready to become chicken feed. 

Each boat that came to the shore had about seven to eight workers. For the 36 hours they were at sea, each of them was paid ₹7,000. 

Charles, a boat owner, said that this year the catch was ‘ok’. “We were expecting much more but due to the prevailing windy condition at sea we were unable to get a good harvest,” he said. “This week, we will be going to the sea thrice to catch fish and from next week on we will be going only twice,” he adds.

A fishermen leader Karl Marx said that due to the prevailing climatic changes the government should stagger the ban period. “Most of the fish especially prawns have a life cycle of about 45 days, hence a two month continuous ban period means that one batch of prawns and other fish would have already died at sea. That is why the prawns that we have got this time are medium size and the large size prawns have become rare,” he pointed out.

Assistant Director of Fisheries, Rameswaram, V. Abdul Kader Jailani, says that the catch season has been good but added that 542 mechanised boats had left for the sea even before the ban period got over and steps were being taken to levy a fine on them.