Gujarat, Maha fishermen clash over depleting catch
AHMEDABAD: Indian fishermen make news when they get picked up by Sri Lankan or Pakistani authorities for straying into their waters. But not many would have heard of the increasing tussle between fishermen of Gujarat and Maharashtra over bigger and better catch.
Already three major midsea clashes have been reported between fishermen of the two states since the fishing season started in August. On November 22 this year, a group of fishermen from Gujarat had a narrow escape when their trawler ‘Veni Prasad’ capsized some 40 nautical miles off Jaffrabad coast, allegedly in a clash with fishermen from Maharashtra.
According to Jaffrabad police station, the stone-pelting incident involving 200 vessels left six fishermen injured. “Two similar incidents were reported off Vanakbara coast two months ago. Such clashes never occurred in the past,” says Velji Masani, general secretary (Gujarat) of National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF), the only national federation of state-level small fish workers’ unions in India. According to Masani, depleting fish catch in the Arabian Sea has turned the Jaffrabad-umargoan region off the Gujarat coast into a face-off zone. Environmental factors like El Nino, inadequate rains and industrial pollution have been blamed for depleting catch. The Gujarat Fisheries Act 2003 does not allow trawlers registered outside the state in its territory, but the rule is hardly enforced.
“Until a decade ago, some 13,000 trawlers of Maharastra used to find catch within 10 to 12 nautical miles of their own coastal districts. Gradually, they were forced to venture further into Umargaon, Jaffrabad and even up north into Veraval off the Gujarat coast. As the catch for Gujarat fishermen is going down, mid-sea clashes are increasing,” says Narendra Patil, general secretary, NFF (Maharashtra).
While the three clashes between August and November have been recorded by the Gujarat Marine Police and transferred to the Yellow Gate police station in Mumbai, several others have gone unreported. “It is the ring method, involving groups of 150-200 trawlers fishing with one huge net, recently started by Maharashtra fishermen off Gujarat coast, that has irked the locals,” adds Patil.
For some 12,000 registered trawlers in Gujarat, the most fertile patch of Jakhau, where waters of Sindh river meets the sea, is now virtually off limits as the area is close to the International Maritime Boundary between India and Pakistan. As a result, the southern belt toward Mumbai is where the Gujarat fishermen have also concentrated.