Boat owners move Centre to reduce trawl ban period

‘Monsoon is the only period when fishing can be done profitably’

The All Kerala Fishing Boat Operators Association has approached the Centre to shorten the span of the annual monsoon fishing ban that starts in Kerala in June. In a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the association points out that imposing a fishing ban for 61 days from June 1 to July 31 along the west coast region will put the fishers in extreme distress. Though the same period was notified in 2020, the Centre later issued an order limiting the uniform fishing ban to 47 days. “Last time the annual ban started immediately after the fishing ban imposed by the government to check the spread of COVID-19. The sector suffered untold miseries during the two stretches of fishing ban,” said Joseph Xavier Kalapurackal, general secretary of the association.