The Hindu Business Line : Trawl ban: A Kerala example

WHEN the midnight hour strikes tomorrow, a deathly silence will fall over the fishing harbours and fish landing centres along the coast of Kerala as around 5,000 trawlers remain moored to their berths to last out the annual 45-day monsoon ban on trawling in the State's waters, 12 nautical miles from the shoreline.

In the wake of the ban will come the customary pro and con arguments from the large-scale mechanised sector and the small-scale artisanal fishermen using more traditional craft and gear.

Both sides will trot out arguments in favour of their respective positions - the mechanised sector bemoaning the loss of income for the owners and crew of trawlers as well as the denial of foreign exchange for the nation from exports of seafood, especially shrimp, while the traditional sector will point to the resource conservation value of the ban as well as its potential to prevent violent physical conflicts between the two sectors.

The Cochin Fisheries Harbour alone has nearly 500 boats based there and it is difficult to ignore the demands of the mechanised sector, represented by organisations like the Kerala State Fishing Boat Operators Association which, in the past, has urged for a blanket ban on all sorts of fishing during the monsoon, including operations of foreign boats and inboard-engine-fitted craft increasingly being used by the traditional sector. Whatever the grouses about the implementation of the ban, one thing seems clear - there is a consensus on the need for an annual ban during the monsoon, which is the spawning season for many varieties of fish, including shrimp, especially the highly valued "karikadi" variety.

Kerala is a trendsetter in using an annual fishing closure as a tool in the management of fisheries resources, and several coastal States in India have subsequently followed Kerala's example. The Kerala Government itself, it is important to remember, was forced to enforce the first 45-day trawl ban in 1988 (an earlier ban in 1981 was short-lived, lasting a mere three days, before it was withdrawn due to pressure from the mechanised sector) as a result of a sustained and strategically focused campaign by the traditional sector, led by the Kerala Independent Fishworkers Federation, and representing around 1.75 lakh fishermen.

Kerala's trawl ban is in line with international trends in fisheries resource management, where fishing closures - like the 45-day anchovy fishing closure in Spain or the ban on bream in Australia or the menhaden in Chesapeake Bay, US, among countless other examples - are being used to revive nearly collapsed fisheries or sustain potentially over-fished fisheries.

In Kerala's case, it must be stressed that fisheries are a major source of employment, income and food, and small-scale fisheries and aquaculture are important for sustainable development of coastal communities in the State.

Fish is the cheapest and most substantive source of animal protein for these poor fishing communities and so any move to support their sources of livelihood must be lauded.

From a global perspective, too, the sector is important since 75 per cent of the world's fish workers' population are in the artisanal and small-scale sub-sector. The sub-sector accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the global capture fisheries production and thus contributes significantly to the economic wellbeing of poorer coastal communities especially in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the small island developing States.

Fishing closures or bans need not be a source of undue worry since there are creative alternative options that the affected fishing communities can adopt to tide over the difficult period. For instance, many of Britain's traditional fishing communities are turning to tourism in an attempt to offset economic decline and to preserve links with their heritage.

Researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne surveyed North Sea fishing towns and witnessed the emergence of a `virtual' fishing industry where new developments and events branded with a fishing `icon' may offer a greater source of income than fishing itself.

Professor Tim Gray, of Newcastle University's School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, who led the study, was quoting as saying, "Capitalising on a town's fishing heritage provides it with an identity as well as an economy. However, developers should be careful not to turn towns into glorified fishing `theme parks'. There's little evidence of this at the moment and it should be avoided if projects are carried out carefully and involve consultation with fishers and their families." Thus, conservation and resource management need not be pitted against livelihoods and income-generation. They can co-exist, as Kerala can well show.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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