Trawlers from Puducherry to stay off Chennai waters as a de-escalation measure

Mechanised boat owners in Puducherry agree to stay within territorial limits to ease conflicts with Chennai fishermen.

Mechanised boat owners in Puducherry will refrain from venturing beyond the territorial limits of the Union Territory in violation of prevailing law under an agreement reached at a consultation convened by the Department of Fisheries to de-escalate conflicts with fishermen communities in Chennai.

According to officials in the Department of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare, there have been at least three recent incidents of fishermen from Puducherry/Karaikal being accosted, vessels seized or driven back by local fishermen in the neighbouring State.

By convention, mechanised trawlers from Thengaithittu were being allowed to operate in waters beyond the boundary reserved for traditional activity off Mammallapuram and Kasimedu as a gesture of amicable accomodation of a shared livelihood struggle, by local fishermen and non-intervention by authorities as long as conflicts did not arise. However, tensions rose recently when a group of fishermen from the Karaikal-Nagapattinam region trawled in nearshore waters at Pazhavarkedu, sources said. This dual violation, of territorial jurisdiction and of zoning guidelines that disrupted catch of traditional fishers, has proved a tipping point in escalating tensions with fishermen communities in Tamil Nadu.

While in Puducherry, the marine regulation laws reserve up to 3 nautical miles from shoreline for traditional fishing activity, mechanised trawlers are allowed beyond that up to a distance of 12 nautical miles within territorial jurisdiction, whereas where territorial jurisdiction has been clearly defined in the Tamil Nadu Marine Fisheries Regulation Act, 1983 reserves up to five nautical miles for traditional fishing while the operational area for mechanised trawling is capped at the territorial limit of 12 nautical miles.

“For the past two years, mechanised trawlers from the Karaikal-Nagapattinam region have been undertaking multi-day fishing trips on nearshore waters reserved for traditional fishing off the coastlines of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. A few days ago, some trawlers were stopped and chased back while engaged in nearshore fishing close to the Pulicat coastline”, an official said.

In one instance, two boats from Puducherry that operated beyond the nearshore limits, were seized by Kasimedu fishermen and released on intervention of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu officials and on an assurance that the fishermen would keep off Chennai waters.

The Fisheries Department, meanwhile, urgently convened a consultation led by Mohammed Ismail, Fisheries Director and K. Deivasigamani, Joint Director, with representatives of the over 100 registered mechanised boat owners berthed at Thengaithittu to ensure that fishing vessels do not violate territorial limits.