Indian fishermen pay the price: Many seized bottom trawlers sent back as scrap metal
More than one hundred Indian bottom trawlers that were auctioned after being seized by the Navy in the past are ready to be shipped back as scrap metal to where they came from - India.
In February, around 217 Indian bottom trawlers were auctioned. Among them, 130 trawlers were not in a condition to be repaired due to long anchorage at sea. Therefore, they were disposed of scrap metal and wood.
Auctioned trawlers were brought to an open field workshop at Bommaiveli in Jaffna for the extraction process.
Due to the short supply of cooking gas, wooden bars and slaps were extracted from the boats, and sold as firewood. In Jaffna, one kilo of firewood is currently sold between Rs. 15 and Rs. 20. The metals parts such as anchorage chains were sold separately.
A boat belonging to Stanislaus Kothandaraman, a fisherman from Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, was auctioned in February. He said it was terrible to hear about what was happening to fishing vessels for which he and many other fisherfolk had invested millions of Indian rupees. According to him, the cost of getting a trawler made in India was between INR 40 lakhs and Rs 70 lakhs, depending on strength and scale.
"We have invested so much money into these vessels. Many of us obtained loans from banks to secure a decent trawler and it is sad to see them being sold as scrap metal," Mr Stanislaus said.
"Years long anchorage at sea destroyed many vessels but the
authorities could have processed those cases early so we would have been able to retrieve those boats after paying fines. But it was too late,"
he added. In February, the Fisheries Department disposed of the Indian bottom trawlers at a public auction, after legal proceedings concluded. They
were seized by the authorities for illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters.