Fishermen from 21 coastal hamlets in Tharangambadi in Mayiladuthurai district have launched an indefinite strike and have abstained from venturing into the sea for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, urging the T.N. government to curb the illegal usage of purse seine nets for fishing, within territorial waters.
On January 24, 2023, the Supreme Court allowed purse seine fishing outside the territorial waters of Tamil Nadu, and imposed stringent conditions to regulate it. The conditions include using purse seine nets only twice a week beyond 12 nautical miles, on Monday and Thursday, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Only vessels registered with the Department of Fisheries are allowed to pursue purse seine fishing, with mandatory tracking devices on board.
Fishermen representatives said however, that though the apex court had allowed fishing with purse seine nets beyond territorial waters, the Fisheries Department in T.N. has not authorised fishermen to go ahead, because of procedural bottlenecks and the non-compliance of vessels with the norms.
Despite this, a few fishermen venture into the sea to fish using purse seine nets. Recently a crew of fishermen was seen using purse seine nets even within the territorial waters at around five nautical miles, alleged K. Gnanasundaram of the Tharangambadi Meenava Panchayathars and added that this situation poses a threat to marine resources and to fishermen using fibre boats.
Fishermen and panchayathars from Tharangambadi, Chinnurpettai, Kuttiyandiyur, Vellakoil, Perumalpettai, Pudupettai, Thoduvai, Thalampettai, Chinnamedu, Vanagiri, Naickerkuppam, Savadikuppam and a few other coastal hamlets in Mayiladuthurai district convened a meeting on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, and decided not to venture into the sea for fishing, indefinitely.
Nearly 400 mechanised boats and 4,000 fibre boats were docked at the shore, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen families in the district.
The panchayathars also planned to convene a meeting with the fishermen from Villupuram, Puducherry, Cuddalore, Karaikal, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram and Thoothukudi on Friday, August 4, 2023, to scale up their protest.
