Sri Nayak led a procession of fishermen and fisherwomen right unto the well of the crowded meeting hall, with the processionists shouting various slogans against the Fisheries Dept, NGO, WTO, USA, TED etc. and in favour of the demands of fishermen communities. Sri Nayak was offered a seat by the President on the dias and requested to speak on their problems and demands.
Sri Nayak first of all read out a poem in Oriya which described the miserable plight, the traditional fishermen communities of Orissa were passing through. The poem harshly condemned the WTO and USA Government for their anti-poor fisheries policies, which however are being thrust on the fisherfolk by the State and Central government. It described the sea turtle as a new demon of the day, which seeks to mercilessly crush the fishermen under its feet. The poem exposed the allegedly hegemonostic design of the foreign powers to plunder India's sea coast and its rich resources, which is being fulfilled by the Government. The freedom of the fishermen to fish freely in the sea is now severely curtailed by the Government and they are subject to penalties and imprisonment as the price of such freedom.
The poem asked, "In whose interests, the so called environment bogey is being raised, when 6 lakh of poor fisherfolk of Orissa coast are perishing in destitution? We don't want the certificates of WTO or any foreign country about how we protect our environment and wildlife".
The poem further went on to say, 'When the very sea is our work-place, where else should we move about freely to do the fishing for our livelihood? Now when we go to the sea, we are being fired upon by the Coast Guard and Police. The blood-stain of the struggle for Chilika is not blotted out yet. The entire coast of Orissa has now become the grazing ground of the foreign powers and polluted in the process by them. Our motto therefore is 'Finish or get finished'.
The way to-day's discussions are being held openly and freely, gives us a ray of hope. During last five years, I have attended several seminar and meetings on today's topic held at Bubaneswar, where persons like Chitta Behera and Bibhas Pandav used to be present along with various officers of Forest and Fisheries Departments. But never before we got an opportunity to speak out our mind as freely as we are able to do today.
I on behalf of gill netting fishermen of Orissa want to say that while our State Government have taken a lot of measures for the welfare and development of mechanized fishing by way of supplying engine and boat etc. for the benefit of richer section of fishermen, the gill netters who are especially traditional fishermen have not been provided with any assistance by the Government. The Super Cyclone of October 1999 which washed away the boats and nets reduced the gill netters into destitutes. For instance, I myself, who had possessed 3 sets of gill nets along with a boat, worth rupees two and half lakh taken as a loan from a Mahajan (local money lender) was deprived of everything in the last cyclone. I became so much pauperised that I am now living as a wage labourer in fisheries industry. All the traditional fishermen of our coast are passing through a similar crisis today.
I would like to say that by our profession of fishing, we the gill-netters only serve not only our families but also the society as a whole. As you might know, the fishes we catch by our gill nets are very valuable ones, such as Kani, Black Pompret, Chinese Pompret, White Pompret, Bhekti, Ilisi, and Kantia etc. As you might know, the Pompret we catch is superior in quality to that caught by the trawlers, a fact for which the exporters pay us an extra amount of 2 to 3 rupees per kg. The foreign exchange so earned by our country by way of the fish export, benefits not only the fisherfolk but also the Government. We the fisherfolk contribute to the State exchequer in very many ways. We pay the registration fee against each boat. The registration fee as you know has been increased from Rs.120/- to Rs 500/- per boat. We are also paying sales tax, income tax and octroi tax, being levied by the Government. Both Central and State Government are benefited by the earnings of fishermen in so many ways. Then why again, anti-fishermen policies?
The neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal refused to declare 'no fishing zone' in their coasts, whereas the 480 km of Orissa coast is now practically prohibited from fishing, as declared by our State Government, on the pretext of Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, Wildlife Protection Act and Sanctuary Area regulations. As a result, 6 lakh of poor fisherfolk are now pushed to a blind alley.
Dr. Pandav said, the turtle moves on the sea floor. The gill net which we use is only 3 to 4 metre in width and about 200 metre in length. The question is how the turtle gets entangled in the gill net. Our boats being small and slow in speed, there is no chance of the turtle getting injured or killed by way of crashing against the boat. So the question arises, why the fishermen for 5 years now are constantly being subject to high penalties ranging from 7 to 15 thousand rupees, even in some cases upto 18 thousand rupees per boat? If a boat after being seized is kept idle for 5 days at a stretch, the wooden plates, of which it is made and whose breadth is hardly an inch, gets spoiled. As I know, the DFO (Divisional Forest Officer) Rajnagar had seized 30 to 40 boats which were kept in his office premises for a long duration upto one and half months. You can well imagine, what would happen to these boats?
When the fisherman ultimately releases his seized boat after paying a fine upto 18,000 rupees, what would he do with the boat? How the fisherman shall live and maintain his family? In the current year, a fine upto Rs.7,000/- is being realized from the seized boats. The new DFO after joining the office has made strict enforcement of the regulations in sea. The Forest Officers instead of guarding the forests are guarding the sea and fishermen at the instance of the DFO. The fishermen are being beaten and fired upon by the Coast Guard. Now man is being shot dead for the sake of turtle. The worth of human life is now cheaper than that of the turtle.
When it is proved beyond a shade of doubt that the gill-net does not kill or injure a turtle, what for the gill netters are beaten, fired and prevented from fishing and consequently pushed to a state of destitution along with their family members? Should the Government not compensate for the loss already borne by the fisherfolk in the past 5 years?
As I know, the Orissa coast is now slipping off into the control of foreign hands. Even the land, forest and water resources of our country are getting increasingly tagged on to the chain of exploitation engineered by the foreign powers.
I want to ask, 'Who are behind the present conspiracy against the fishermen?' Whenever we raise a voice of protest, it is simply ignored. The TV, news papers and other mass media are projecting such reports and images as to turn the common public hostile to the fishermen communities. Where from come crores of rupees for such anti-fishermen propaganda? The Government is not able to provide minimum needs of living for the fisherfolk, such as education, health or shelter. The Government expresses its helplessness for constructing even a school building on the plea of financial crunch. Being rendered homeless, the fishermen are now taking shelter on the sands of river mouth or in make-shift huts or in tents, a fart which does not bother the Government. But where from the Government bring crores of rupees for doing turtle conservation? The Coast Guard is supposed to guard our coastal waters against the intrusion of foreign vessels, but instead the Coast Guard is now guarding the coast against the local fisherfolk, whom they consider as enemies.
Now I on behalf of the gill-netters association of Orissa demand before the Government to withdraw the multiple bans and prohibitions on marine fishing in Orissa coast on the plea of turtle conservation. We the fishermen worship the turtles as an Avtar of God and therefore salute it wherever we find it in the net. So on the plea of turtle conservation; we should not hand over our coast to foreign powers. We should not allow the licensing or operation of trawlers owned by foreigners in our coast. As you know, with the kind of boat and engine we the gill-netters are having, we can fish only within 5 to 10 km of the coastal waters. We can not for technical reasons go beyond this area. In such a situation, the Government senselessly banned fishing within 5 km of the coastline. Again, the very entry of a fishing boat into 3 river mouth areas (Mahanadi, Dhamra and Devi) of our coast has been banned. Where shall the traditional fishermen fish?
Most of the policies on fisheries are being made in the State Secretariat in isolation from the fishing communities. Whatever prohibitory policies including the TED regulations have already been made, do not in fact leave any room for our right over sea. The fisher folk should not be deprived of their natural right over the sea and coastal waters.
There are now 18 nos. of seized boats under the custody of the DFO Rajnagar. I demand their immediate release without any fine to be imposed on the fishermen.
In the present situation, the fishermen are controlled by several agencies, Fisheries Dept, Forest Dept, Coast Guard, Police etc. But the fisher folk need be controlled by only one Department i.e. the Fisheries Department. But as you know, we the fisher folk are not given any help by the Fisheries Department. Under the circumstances, why should we pay a registration fee of Rs. 500 per boat and run to the Department for this or that purpose? Why should there be a Department of Fisheries at all, with its staff and offices, maintained out of public exchequer? Now all matters relating to fisher folk, be it turtle, fish or marine fishing regulations should be brought under the jurisdiction of Fisheries Department.
I would like to suggest that, for the purpose of policy making, there should be a State Committee on Fisheries comprising representatives of fishermen of all categories, officials of Fisheries, Forest Department and Coast Guard, and concerned Departmental Ministers to discuss and pass any new policy or resolution on fisheries in a democratic manner. The policy or resolution so passed might be implemented thereafter. The fishery policies should not be made in close door meetings in a bureaucratic manner by a small group of people.
We the fisher folk have never obeyed blindly the dictates of any oppressive regime in the past and would never do so in future too. Inquilab Zibdabad. Matschhyajibi Ekata Zindabad.
This Workshop was meant for TED only. But we now find that there are so many pent up grievances of fishermen, which are being ventilated in this forum. May be, in absence of full-time incumbents in the Fisheries Department, the grievances of fishermen were not addressed properly by the concerned authorities. As a matter of fact, we got educated by such presentations made by Kameswar Babu for the trawl owners or by Subhas Babu for the gill netters and traditional fishermen. Now a process of dialogue between the Government and the fisher folk has begun, which should continue in the days to come. We are now getting to know what we have done or what we need to do for the sake of fishermen, whom we are meant to serve. We are now thinking of how to address to the various problems of the fishermen, whether and to what extent we can solve them and at what level, Cabinet, Minister, or Department? We have concern for every segment of fisher folk, be they trawlers, traditional fishermen or gill-netters. If we can provide some more facilities to them by our efforts, we shall be discharging our duties.
Yesterday I had been to the Fishing Harbour, where I could see that the Auction House did not have any light. Now we have 200 nos. of VHF handsets to be given free to the trawl owners. But our tower has been damaged. We requested the Chairman PPT to provide their tower facility temporarily. If he agrees, we can give you the VHF handsets shortly, so that you can avail shore-to-vessel communication facility. Just as Andhra Pradesh Government provided the handsets to their fishermen free, so also we can give you 200 nos. of such handsets free of cost.
You should not lose patience. Rather you should discuss with the scientists who have come here from afar about the problems on TED. As I gathered from them, at Kakinada, the trawl owners raised various questions and got them clarified, and then vied with each other for taking TEDs. As I have been reported, 20 nos. of TEDs were distributed at Kakinada. At Vizag, the trawl owners took 40 nos. of TEDs. If the fishermen of Andhra Pradesh could be convinced on TED and took it for use in their trawl nets, why should our Orissa's fishermen lag behind?
Now I request Dr.Raghu Prakash, a scientist of Central Institute of Fisheries Technology to present briefly the salient features of the TED designed by them. You might interact with him following his presentation.
I will speak in whenever any new technology comes up; the people encounter some problems in grasping it and applying it in the field. First of all, some apprehension is created in the minds of people centering round the efficacy of the new technology. I can now see that you have many doubts regarding TED, which I shall try to clarify in my small presentation.
The device that exits the turtles getting accidentally entangled in the trawl nets is called the Turtle Excluder Device.
In our Institute, we have done a lot of research on designing the TED with a view to minimize the escape of fish along with turtle.
There are so many designs of TED, and each TED is meant for a specific kind of net.
In 1995, the model of TED we had first developed was showing escape of 40% of total fish catch from the trawl net. Then we tried and experimented different designs of TED and ultimately arrived at the present one.
Let me explain a little bit about the peculiar breathing habit of sea turtles. The turtle lives in the bottom of sea but comes up to surface at intervals to breathe. The maximum capacity of retaining the breath varies from turtle to turtle. Some turtles can stay under water for 5 hours at a stretch. But if there be any stress, the turtle cannot stay under water for more than 45 minutes. A trawling haul generally takes place for 1 to 2 hours. So a turtle, which gets accidentally inside a trawl net and develops a stress thereafter, dies ultimately out of asphyxia. The TED is meant to prevent the turtle from entering into the cod end of the trawl net. There is an opening at the upper end of TED, which is again covered by a flap. When the turtle encounters the TED as an obstruction, it finds it way out through the upper opening.
As you know, the fishes and shrimps swim in a straight line against the direction of trawling. They usually don't move up. So they straight away pass through the grid-space into the cod end.
But the turtle can move up and escape through the flap. The flap is placed in such a way that it covers the opening all the time during trawling, except when some pressure from below makes it open up. If any body has a doubt that the flap would always remain open keeping thereby a way for escape of fish, let me clarify that this doubt is wrong. We have experimented about it a number of times.
But when the flap opens up, say for turtle to escape, some fish is likely to escape also. We have taken this apprehension into account and designed the TED in such a way that only 1.2 % of total fish catch might get lost. And in respect of shrimp, the amount of loss is still less, i.e. 0.69% only.
Today morning I learnt from here that there was 8% of fish escape through TED in course of its recent test in Orissa coast. As a matter of fact, the percentage of loss would be more, if fabrication of TED is not done properly, and if angling is not set perfectly.
An Accelerator Funnel is necessary to keep the TED in right position so as to allow fishes and shrimps to pass straight into the cod end through the grid space.
What about ray fish?
Let me frankly tell that any fish, which has a size larger than the grid width of TED, is sure to escape. So the ray fish shall no doubt escape. But as regards other fishes, as you know, the body breadth of the fishes is not generally large enough compared to their weight. The streamlined body would easily pass through the grid space.
We feel, the big size fishes won't get into the cod end. Moreover, a few ray fishes if stuck up against the TED, they would neither pass through into the cod end, nor escape through TED opening. They shall cover the TED surface in such a way that they would prove obstruction to other fishes to pass into the cod end.
I am voicing the concerns of the trawl owners only and rightly so. You have told that there would be only 1% fish loss by using TED. But how many experimental trawls you conducted for arriving at his figure?
Can you say with conviction that this 1% fish loss would be experienced everywhere, or is peculiar to Andhra coast only, or found in case of shrimp trawling only. My concern arises from the fact that our people here do blind fishing only. They catch all types of fish, A, B and C classes of fish. They catch big fishes also to sell.
Dr. Pandav has tested your design of TED. The Director of Fisheries in one case found that the fish loss was 1.2% and in another case 8%. Dr. Pandav has also conducted so far 30 hauls, which give us a figure of that range.
I would request you (Dr. Prakash ) to interact with other scientists and trawl owners in next two days to find out if we can increase the grid width of TED. Because in stead of shrimp trawling, fish trawling is in vogue in Orissa coast. May be, it is true that the streamlined body of some big fishes would pass through grid space. But there are ray fishes and other some fishes, which cannot possibly pass through the grid space. What is your observation?
The ray fish shall escape through TED. The big shark shall also escape. But the chances of ray fish coming into the net are very negligible.
If allowed, I shall share my experience on this topic of fish escape.
Dr.Prakash should know that most of our trawl owners are knowledgeable about TED. Kindly clarify the matter from the fish loss point of view, the crux of the controversy, which agitates them. Also explain, whether your TED has been tested in all areas and certified accordingly?
I am not going to impose anything on you people. I think I am working for you people, and if you don't accept what I say, it is fine.
I would request Dr.Pandav to have interaction with the trawl owners in the presence of ADFs (Marine) to ascertain what are their doubts regarding TED. The demonstration of TED on sea should be planned accordingly to clarify the same. I would request Dr.Prakash to interact with the trawl owners too. The members of trawl owners associations should accompany these scientists in the demonstration to see in their own eyes what the result is.
The TED, which Dr.Pandav is experimenting with, is not a proper TED. That is why, 8% of fish escape is reported from his experiments. It is true, the turtle might escape. (An argument between Dr. Prakash and Sri Tarun Patnaik went on, which was however not audible to the participants.)
The FSI Unit at Vishakhapatanam is responsible for fishery survey of maritime States of Upper East Coast of India, namely Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. We have two demersal survey vessels to survey the waters of EEZ along the coasts of these States. During our routine survey, we came across stray catches of turtles. In December 2001 last I happened to go on board vessel for 20 days and met nearly 46 hauls. Out of 46 hauls, 10 hauls had one or two turtles. All were in live condition, of course, and placed back into the waters.
Recently we had a programme at Kakinada, where similar types of problems as you find here were noticed. The fishermen raised a lot of objections and demonstrated practically against the programme. We took them on board small survey vessels to the sea in the presence of the officials of State Fisheries, and scientists of CIFT and FSI. After seeing the demonstration of TED, they were fully convinced. The escapement of fish was very less, i.e. less than 8%. Needless to say, the turtle escaped.
As we realize, escapement of quality fish depends upon so many factors, the first and foremost being the type of TED we use. In the past, there were 5 different types of TED available worldwide. The CIFT tried all the different models of TED and at last devised the indigenous one, which you have seen here.
The exit hole is fitted in some cases to the bottom side of TED, while in our case; it is fitted to the upper side. By keeping the exit hole at the upper side, we may expect the escape of fish to be minimum. I don't say, you can reduce the escape to zero percentage. But it can be minimized to a large extent. Regarding the kind of angle at which the TED is to be fixed, we have to ensure how best we can set it.
Dr. Pandian, what you told about the exit hole and angle, is it out of your personal experience or any other source?
Yes. Absolutely out of my personal experience, The WII had requested Fishery Survey of India to organize some TED demonstration.
Are you co-coordinating with CIFT?
Yes. With Dr.Rama Rao of CIFT. He participated in our voyage. Our common feeling is that the exit hole should be placed at the upper side of the net, so that the escape won't be more.
Dr. Pandian, are you staying tomorrow?
Yes. I shall stay for fixing of the TED and also for its demonstration in sea.
All others who have some knowledge and interest on TED should stay and actively interact with the scientists, who have come here and are staying on too. As rightly said, we should not be made guinea pigs. If the present design of TED is not the acceptable one, let it be told like that. I cannot force on trawl owners or fishermen something, which as Rakhal Babu says, is at an experimental stage. The design should be perfect and usable by an average trawl owner or operator. Can a trawl owner afford to call a scientist every time to fix the TED? Is it practical? So I want all these questions to be clarified during the TED fitting and demonstration sessions tomorrow and day after tomorrow.
I would request Dr. Pandav and our ADFs (Assistant Director of Fisheries) and DDFs (Deputy Director of Fisheries) of marine sector, and other officers to stay on and participate in these sessions. This will be also a great learning exercise for all of you. I request the TED experts to clarify all the questions that might be raised in course of next two days.
I want to tell something about escapement of fishes. I have done some experiments in collaboration with Directorate of Fisheries, Orissa in coastal waters off Paradip during 1995-96. During that time we made a few experiments. The desired number of experiments could not be completed. During those experiments, I touched the point on escapement of fish too.
Here is a gentleman from UK who has arrived here on his own to share his ideas with us on TED. Now I request Dr. Robert to speak his viewpoint in a brief manner.
He circulated a paper "Proposal for TED Trawler Association" among the participants of the Workshop and spoke a few words as mentioned below by way of introduction.
I want to ask the trawl owner gentlemen present here, whether you want to double your profits?
Whether you like me to show you how? If you want, I can show you how to double your profits. It is very very simple. What I suggest you is to form a TED Trawler Association of Orissa. The Association would be very exclusive. It has to be very strict on its membership. Every member shall have to be certified as competent to use TED. No member would be allowed unless he passes the necessary tests taken by the Association.
Shouts