Boat deployed to curb illegal activities rusting at Rameswaram

The aim was to nab fishermen using banned gill nets but the effort proved to be futile. “The boat was used only for 2-3 months. After the engine developed a snag it could not be used anymore,” said sources.

Bose, fishermen leader at Rameswaram, said he has been seeing the boat stationed at the southern part of the harbour for more than 15 years. There has been several rounds of talks between Sri Lankan and Indian representatives and in every meet the issue of gill nets has been raised by Sri Lankan officials.

Talks also fail because of inaction towards use of banned nets.

Though Indian officials promise the Sri Lankan officials that they would stop use of gill nets, they are not practically able to as they do not have sophisticated boats to go for surprise raids. If the rusting boat had been good condition, it would have been possible for officials to seize the gill nets. When there is no proper mechanism to stop the usage of gill nets, talks between the two countries will never succeed and livelihood of fishermen can never be set right, said Bose.

Fishermen leader, Sesuraj, said when gill nets are used even eggs of fish would be caught and marine resources would be destroyed.

Though several restrictions are laid against the usage of gill nets a section of fishermen continue using it. When there is no resource for the officials how can they arrest those using banned gill nets, questioned Sesuraj. .

Officials of Fisheries Department, however, were not even aware of the details of the boat.

An official of Fisheries Department, on request of anonymity, said that the boat had been lying useless for several years and they had no idea when the boat was bought. “We have to check older records to get details of the boat,” added the official.