Navigating and co-managing Tamil Nadu’s coastal standoffs

The Tamil Nadu Department of Fisheries, Coastal Security group, Indian Coast Guard, and India navy monitor and enforce the 12 nautical mile (NM) demarcations. VTS transponders, digital geo-fencing software are integrated, which trigger alerts when boundaries or time windows are transgressed.

The marine fishing activity is strictly monitored by enforcing submission of mandatory trip log submissions, physical harbour check-posts, and adherence to color coding. While State marine police enforce gear bans up to 12 NM, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) with sea-air surveillance assets monitor the periphery of the boundary to control illegal deployment of gear during transit through state waters. Another layer of surveillance is provided by the ICG Dornier aircraft with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and coastal radar chain stations which keep track of the “dark” vessels that switch off the VTS units.

While technology helps keep track, enforcement of the regulations is entirely a different ball game. Proving active fishing versus simple transit through territorial waters, managing vessels which disable transponders are serious challenges that enforcement agencies face in this dynamic environment.

Way ahead

Participatory co-management framework and rights-based fisheries management are steps to resolve such issues. While Delineating Territorial Use Rights in Fisheries (TURFs) legally reserves the 0-12 NM inshore zone for artisanal and small motorised crafts, the offshore zone is assigned to mechanised vessels. Traditional fishers, fleet owners, scientists, and officials jointly adjust operational rules, mesh size limits, and temporal closures based on Multi-stakeholder Co-Management Committees applying an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM). Caps on total extraction in the EEZ are limited by Transitioning to Total Allowable Catch quotas and Individual Transferable Effort while traditional fishers could share the landed value of offshore catches through Fisher producers Organisations. Institutional trust can be boosted by granting traditional fisher representatives’ access to centralised VTS tracking dashboards. We further suggest a no fishing zone of 5 NM from the 12NM boundary into the EEZ zone to eliminate any element of doubt of traditional and mechanised vessels fishing at the edge of the territorial waters.  This buffer zone could also give safe passage to shoals moving near shore, helping the traditional fishers boost their landings.

Full solar electric propulsion

One of the best strategies for improving the economic margins of the small-scale fishers would be to push the adoption of solar-electric propulsion which offers clear long term operational advantages despite high initial capital expenditure. The adoption of full solar-electric propulsion among artisanal fishers in Tamil Nadu is in an early pilot and trial phase despite an estimated 50 to 60% reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) compared to petrol/ kerosene outboard motors (OBMs). Tamil Nadu’s craft fleet of kattumarams, fiberglass beach landing crafts (FRPs), and vallams are yet to transition from fossil fuels to solar-electric power on a commercial scale.

Marine tech startups like NavAlt, ICAR-CMFRI and ICAR-CIFT, and non-governmental organisations such as Association of Deep Sea Going Artisanal Fishermen are involved in pure solar-electric propulsion localized trials which are primarily focused on low-horsepower, near-shore traditional craft operating within 3 to 5 NM.

Daily fuel expenses account for almost 70% of operating costs of a small motorised crafts. An initial capital expenditure of Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh is involved for converting a standard fibre-reinforced plastic vessel. This upfront liability drops by 40% to 60% with subsidy support under PMMSY scheme effectively reducing the payback period up to 5 years down from 18-24 months.

This reduces trip fuel cost and enables higher returns over operational costs. FPO bulk purchases, climate finance and solar-ice integration can bridge the feasibility gap. Local Fish Farmer Producers Organisations (FPOs) are being encouraged to set up coastal charging and battery –swapping stations to remove the weight of heavy solar arrays from small hulls.

This transition is being recommended to not only small motorised crafts only also to mechanised vessels that need to exploit the hitherto underexploited resources of the Indian EEZ from 12NM to 200 NM in a least cost scenario.

Already long line fishers of Kanniyakumari and Thoothoor have installed 100W-1kW rooftop solar PV systems to run navigational gear GPS; fish finders; VHF radios; and LED night-lighting. These solar-assisted hybrid setups provide the range safety net, fishers demand. This enables substantial savings in fuel cost without altering the main propulsion system. Harvesting pelagic shoals also becomes easier since noise and vibration are cancelled when electric propulsion engines are installed.

Therefore, any further conflicts between the two factions can be resolved through science, technology and co-management.

Dr M Krishnan is an advisor (Fisheries) (India) at Infinite Sum Modelling LLC, USA, an economic modelling consultancy. Dr Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan is the founder of Infinite Sum Modelling LLC, USA, and a fellow at NITI Aayog