Fish famine plagues coastal Karnataka

Fishermen in coastal parts of Karnataka have been left high and dry on account of a severe fish famine.

Assistant Director of Fisheries in Mangalore Suresh Kumar has admitted that the phenomenon of fish famine, which grips the maritime districts of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi in Karnataka during November and December, has been particularly severe this time with the lean season extending into March.

The poor yield of fish, which is estimated to have declined by 50 per cent this season, has already sent the prices of several varieties of fish skyrocketing and affecting the export of fish from Mangalore. The price of a few popular variety of fish had doubled or tripled this season in view of the drastic decline in the volume of fish catch.

Meanwhile, an elite panel of fishermen and researchers constituted by the Government a couple of months ago to study the reasons behind the significant decline in volume of fish catch, has attributed the recurring phenomenon of fish famine to over-exploitation of the seas and lack of induced breeding techniques.

The report had also pointed out that the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada had landed 218,000 tonnes of marine fish varieties during 1995-96. But, since the turn of the century, the fish yield had declined drastically and had even reached 128,000 tonnes during 2001-02.

The fish yield during the ensuing season has also been described as extremely bad. “This situation is such that almost 70 to 75 boats out of around 100 that venture into the sea for fishing return to the shores with empty baskets”, according a representative of fishermen’s association.

The Karnataka Fishermen’s Action Committee has also taken serious note of absence of uniform period for imposing a fishing ban along the western coast of India. The different periods of ban on fishing imposed to facilitate breeding of fish was not serving the purpose.