[Reader-list] Foreign trawlers have a field day

[T Peter]

*Foreign trawlers have a field day*

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | SHAM MOHAMMED
<http://www.deccanchronicle.com/byline/sham-mohammed-1>

*Published*Jun 21, 2017, 2:27 am IST



The territorial sea demarcated by international sea boundary has a width of
200 nautical miles.


*KOLLAM:* Despite trawling ban, the foreign trawlers seamlessly loot the
fish resource off Kerala coasts.  The government is still unsure of the
quantity of fish they take away. The Kerala High Court had recently
observed responding to a PIL demanding intervention to prevent foreign
trawlers entering India's territorial waters that the Union government
lacked the facility to determine the amount of fish they loot. The
withdrawal of LoP (letter of permit) in its recent policy decision itself
justifies the argument that the prevention of foreign trawlers was a
failure.

The LoP was also misused by these trawlers, it was observed. “The fishermen
very often see them here, and the government has not taken adequate steps
to prevent the. They filter out our fish resource using most modern
equipment including nets that span across kilometres,” T. Peter, National
Fish Workers Forum general secretary, told DC. Though the LoP has been
cancelled, there are several loopholes in the policy which permits
private-public participation model.

The territorial sea demarcated by international sea boundary has a width of
200 nautical miles. The foreign vessels could pass the sea through the
innocent passage as mentioned in international maritime rules. The Union
agriculture ministry had submitted an affidavit that nearly 316 tonnes of
fish were netted out on an annual basis by foreign trawlers during the
years 2005-2015. The court has also ordered to constitute a special council
to study the impact of such illegal trawling in the exclusive economic zone
of the territorial waters.