Fishermen staging a protest in seas demanding the Centre and Puducherry Government to ban purse seine fishing in Puducherry. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Supreme Court on Tuesday requested the Centre what would occur to the small and conventional fishermen within the State of Tamil Nadu if “affluent” purse seine fishermen on mechanised boats are allowed to function past the 12 nautical mile territorial waters and find yourself catching tons of of tonnes of fish.
Tamil Nadu authorities stated purse seine fishing kills fishing inventory and is a hazard to the setting, leaving conventional fishermen working throughout the territorial waters on their catamarans with nothing.
The court docket is listening to a petition filed by Fishermen Care to remain a Tamil Nadu authorities order of February 17, 2020, which had banned the big nets used to catch colleges of fish within the deep waters of the ocean.
On Tuesday, purse seiners urged the court docket to plot an interim association by which they might function outdoors the 12-nautical mile threshold earlier than the continuing fishing season within the State got here to an finish.
The Centre, based mostly on a report submitted by an skilled committee, stated purse seine fishing could also be allowed past the 12 nautical mile restrict and out of doors the State’s coastal jurisdiction.
Additional Solicitor General Okay.M. Nataraj, for the Union, stated purse seine fishing may very well be allowed outdoors 12 nautical miles from the Tamil Nadu coast for 15 days in a given month besides throughout the 60-day uniform fishing ban interval. The mechanised boats of purse seiners may very well be fitted with transponders and automated identification techniques to zero in on their location. Log books may very well be maintained on their actions.
“But who will monitor them? The State’s concern cannot be overlooked because there are smaller fishermen with trawlers doing the coastal waters. If larger fishermen operating beyond the 12 nautical miles take all the catch, what would happen to these smaller fishermen? Is it not a concern of the Centre to go into all this and take a decision?” Justice A.S. Bopanna, main the Bench, requested Mr. Nataraj.
Mr. Nataraj stated a nationwide complete plan can be drawn on purse seine fishing and laws in six months.
However, the court docket identified that the necessity was now and never after six months. It directed the Union to file an affidavit on how purse seine fishing is regulated in different States in order that an interim association may very well be made for purse seine fishing in Tamil Nadu past the 12 nautical miles. The court docket listed the case for subsequent Tuesday.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate D. Kumanan, for Tamil Nadu, stated the Supreme Court can not give permission to be used of purse seine nets even past 12 nautical miles. There was no mechanism to watch these fishermen.
“A purse seine net is three times bigger than a football field. It acts like a shovel and drags up all aquatic life, even endangered species, from the sea. An affluent purse seine fisherman gets the catch of, to say the least, a 1000 traditional fisherman. They get 92% of the entire catch. They destroy the fish sticks by killing juvenile fish,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted.
He referred to a 1993 choice of the Supreme Court within the State of Kerala versus Joseph Antony, upholding the ban on purse seine fishing past the territorial waters because it affected the livelihood of conventional fishermen.
Senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and V. Giri, for the petitioners, countered that 17 lakh fishermen use purse seine nets. They weren’t “affluent” however small fishermen who had labored their method up the pecking order within the fishing group. Mr. Sankaranarayanan stated purse seine fishing was launched in 1954. Technology has modified for the reason that 1993 choice, 30 years in the past. Technology existed to watch fishermen and maintain a test on whether or not they function past the 12 nautical mile restrict.
“But to reach the 12 nautical mile limit, we have to cross through the restricted waters. We cannot go in helicopters and [be] dropped outside the 12 nautical mile limit. The court has to give us some sort of protection,” Mr. Sankaranarayanan argued.
Mr. Giri stated the State didn’t have any jurisdiction outdoors the nautical restrict of its territorial waters and can’t prohibit them from fishing there.
“The fishing season for south Tamil Nadu started two weeks ago and will go on for another four weeks. The season for north Tamil Nadu will start in two weeks. This time is crucial,” Mr. Sankaranarayanan stated.
