One year on, tsunami still haunts fisher folk

It is close to a year since the tsunami tragedy struck parts of Asia including the southern region of India on December 26, 2004, but its aftermath continues to be felt by the country's fishing industry in general and south India's in particular. To their utter dismay, fishermen of the region are witnessing a sharp drop in catching.

Although an exact estimate of tsunami's damages is not yet prepared as far as the marine fishing sector is concerned, it is a fact that most part of the southern states is short of marine products. So, this has badly affected India's marine exports as well.

Kerala has remained a major casuality of the disaster. About 50-60 per cent of the state's merchandised fishing boats have already stopped sailing to the sea as it has turned out to be a huge loss-making affair for them.

A Kochi-based fishing boat owner M K Ashique said most of the marine products, which are usually abundant during this season, are not even in sight in the sea now. He said availability of fish had dropped 50-60 per cent, and also the domestic market was short of traditional fish varieties.

Domestic prices of various types of fishes have shot up 30-40 per cent during the last three months.

Mackarel, a common domestic fish, which was available at a price tag of Rs 30-40 a kg, is now selling at about Rs 60. Although India oil sardine, a widely consumed variety in southern states, is still available in plenty, its price has surged by Rs 30-40 a kg from Rs 20-25 a few weeks back.

Fishermen of the Kochi fishing harbour said even though exportable fish such as cuttle fish, squid, ribbon fish and various types of prawns are usually available in this season, this time these items have become a rare sight in the local markets.

They said most of the exportable varieties are fished out from deep sea, and tsunami had a severe impact upon deep sea fishing. However, impact on shallow water fish like sardine is not grave.

Exporters in the city said tsunami's far-reaching effects would be felt in a major way in exports during the latter half of the current financial year.

In Kerala, the three fishing zones "� Kollam, Kochi, and Beppur (Kozhikkode) "� have a combined capacity of 5,000 merchandised boats, but these boats are mostly lying idle and hardly sailing to the sea of late.

Ashique explained the plight saying, for sailing for a week, boat owners have to spend Rs 50,000-60,000 on an average, but the return is only to the tune of Rs 25,000-30,000. And this is the main reason behind most fishing boats stopping sailing in the sea.

A top official of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi, told Business Standard that a detailed report on the shortage of marine resources after tsunami would be published by the end of this month.

Scientists of various institutes are currently studying the effects in various states and holding discussions on various levels. The final findings would be placed as a white paper on the issue shortly.

He also said the serious damage caused to the fishing sector by tsunami is the major cause for the drop in catching during this season. Fisherfolk of various states is yet to come to terms with the shock of the tragedy, and the fishing community's confidence is absolutely shattered.

Fishermen also said tsunami had damaged the ecosystem of the sea and hence the recent drop in marine resources. But CMFRI officials said a detailed study is required to determine the impact and it is premature to quantify the loss.

Source at the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) said exports would not be affected that much as there has been an increase in the production of cultured products, especially shrimps. "There will be negligible loss to the exports sector," an MPEDA official said.

India has targeted fish exports worth Rs 6,800 crore during the current fiscal and about 55 per cent of this was already achieved in the first half of the fiscal itself.

However, Kochi exporters believed that the negative impact would be felt only in the latter half of 2005-06.