Collisions leave fishermen in the lurch

KOCHI: While fishing in the Arabian Sea is turning out to be a nightmare for the native fishermen by every passing day, the fishermen allege that the authorities are least bothered to prevent the accidents like the one which happened off Kollam on Thursday.More than 20 precious lives were lost in the high seas during the last 10 years when boats collided with merchant vessels off the coastline from Munambam to Kollam alone. In all cases, except one, the victims did not get any compensation.In 1998, five people were killed when the boat ‘Vanitha’ collided with a ship. A big tragedy happened in 2003 when seven fishermen died after a merchant vessel hit the fishing boat, ‘Binoymon’. However, the shipping company paid a compensation of Rs 1 crore to the families of the deceased.Two years later, five fishermen on board a boat ‘Petropil’ lost their lives in a similar incident. The case in connection with this is still pending before a court in Kollam.Two similar incidents occurred in 2006 and 2007. In both cases, two fishermen each were killed. They set out to the sea from Kochi and Munambam harbours. In 2010, two fishermen on board ‘Xavier Kochuveedan’ also met with the same fate.According to All Kerala Fishing Boat Operators’ Association gen secretary Joseph Xavier Kalappurakkal, the authorities concerned, neither the Shipping Ministry nor the state govt, had paid any attention though these types of accidents occur frequently off the Kerala coast every year.Though no casualties have been reported, there had been similar incidents off the Malabar coast in which boats and fishing equipment  were fully destroyed causing huge losses to the owners, Joseph Xavier said. He alleged that in almost all the incidents, the security agencies were not even able to trace the vessels which were involved in the accidents.“Since they did not trace the vessels, the fishermen or their families never got any compensation,” he said. Xavier said the navigation of merchant vessels along the coastline should be redirected to the designated channels.