[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In view of the rising number of accidents turning the sea treacherous for fishing vessels, the fishermen community in the State will be approaching the State government with a demand to regulate merchant vessels plying off the Kerala coast.
Busiest channels (sub-head)
“Kerala boasts one of the busiest shipping channels in the country with nearly 1,000 ships plying along the route in the North –South direction. At the same time, the State has a very big fishing fleet comprising about 27,000 mechanised boats, which operate in the East-West direction. The large-scale presence of these big and small vessels has considerably increased the possibility of mid-sea collisions,” said Charles George, convenor of the Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi. Referring to a mid-sea accident that took place about four nautical miles off Kochi on February 12, he alleged that the merchant vessel involved in the accident was plying about two-and-half km off the designated shipping channel, leading to the accident.
The ship apparently had several Indian employees on board and it was moving closer to the coast for better cell phone reception, he said.
“The inboard vessel, Ayiroor Mahavishnu from Kaypamangalam in Thrissur had 40 employees on its board and the ship, owned by a Mumbai-based firm came its way by violating the shipping channel norms. The fishermen had a miraculous escape but the run in caused a damage of about 3,000 kg of trawling net by the fishing vessel. The issue, however, has been settled with the shipping company paying a compensation of Rs.17 lakh,” Mr. Charles said.
A decision with regard to paying the compensation followed a meeting between the fishermen and representatives of the shipping company, their shipping agent, in the presence of V.Dinakaran, president, Matsyafed, he added. Officials with the Mercantile Marine Department, however, sought to deny allegations of the ship moving off the designated path.
“Preliminary reports suggested that the ship was being escorted into the Cochin port and the accident took place only after it reached the pilot pick-up point.
The company, however, might have agreed for a settlement given the time involved in challenging the claims raised by the fishermen,” they said.
Regarding reports about merchant vessels moving closer to the coast for better cell phone reception, they pointed out that such vessels had modern communication equipments on board and hence there was no need for them to violate the maritime norms just for the purpose.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
