Trawlers ‘destroy’ fishing nets once again, causing tension to rise in the communities of Nagapattinam

Following a deadly mid-sea confrontation last month, the district’s simmering tensions among its coastal communities intensified on Wednesday when motorized boat owners returned to the sea for fishing after a two-week break and reported that trawlers were damaging their nets once again.

In the wake of the February 26 mid-sea confrontation that claimed the lives of two fishermen from Akkaraipettai and one from Keechankuppam in mechanized boats, the fishermen of Seruthur and Vedaranyam taluks proclaimed an irreversible cease-fire on fishing operations.

The protesting fishermen, who mostly fish from motorized boats, then held discussions with government representatives in which they demanded an outright ban on trawling. The discussions, however, broke down when the owners of mechanized boats insisted on continuing to trawl since the bulk of their boats are trawlers.

Johny the Collector After that, Tom Varghese advised the owners of motorized boats in the taluks of Seruthur and Vedaranyam to return to fishing since they were endangering their own means of subsistence. As a result, on Wednesday, hundreds of motorized boats left Arukatuthurai and headed out to sea.

On the other hand, an official from the fisheries department said, “We received reports that at least nine motorized boats from Arukatuthurai had their [fishing] nets damaged by trawlers.” Tension among the coastal residents increased when allegations of ongoing damage surfaced.

When many of the communities realized that the “danger has not passed,” they once again decided to stop fishing. “Unless trawling is outlawed, it seems that this struggle will never end. To stop the dispute from becoming worse, we are looking forward to our last meeting with the collector,” V Karthikeyan, an Arukatuthurai fisher representative, said.