Indian scientists have a solution for the perennial issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen violating the International Maritime Boundary line (IMBl) to fish in the Sri lankan territorial waters which has caused anguish among the island nation’s fishing community. Ties between India and Sri lanka always experience the turbulence of high seas because of the arrest of fishermen from Tamil Nadu by Sri lankan Navy for violating the IMBl and poaching the marine wealth of that country.
While politicians and diplomats of both the countries have failed to solve this issue, scientists of the National Institute of Ocean Technology, a Chennai-based research establishment under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, have come out with a cost-effective and simple solution capable for resolving the fishermen issue between the two countries once and for ever.
Fishermen in Olaikuda village in the temple town of Rameshwaram are all set for a big harvest of fully grown sea bass and cobia on Thursday. The uniqueness of this fishing is that they need not venture out into the sea or violate the IMBl for the rich catch. They will fish along the Olaikuda shoreline itself where they bred the fish varieties in cages made by NIOT. The caged culturing was commenced in October 2014 an is certain to yield a rich harvest of sea bass and cobia which command premium price in international market, according to Dr R Kirubagaran, head, marine biotechnology division, NIOT.
“The HDPE (high density poly ethylene) cages designed and build by us will help fishermen to breed sea bass and cobia in 210 days. They will get at least 10 tonnes of fish from each cage,” explained Kirubagaran. The advantage with cage culturing is that fishermen need not venture out to deep seas and violate the IMBl for fishing. “Cage culturing could be done within 10 to 15 km from the shore. Depending on the quality of water, we can have six to ten tonnes of yield per cage,” said Dr M A Atmanand, director, NIOT.
According to Dr Kirubagaran, any variety of fish could be grown through cage culture process. “We have certain parameters for selecting the sites. Areas away from shipping routes and devoid of industrial discharge and high tides are ideal sites. Rameshwaram coast meets our parameters,” said Dr Kirubagaran.
Marine scientists like Dr Mohammed Rafi of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology, Porto Novo, are of the view that southern Tamil Nadu coast is ideal for cage culturing. “Ramanathapuram coast has less wave action which is a boon for cage culturing,. Varieties like sea bass and cobia command big premium in both domestic and international markets. The important advantage is that we can keep the fishermen away from fragile marine hot spots like Gulf of Mannar,” said Dr Raffi.
According to Kirubagaran, fishermen could form self help groups and buy cages for culturing. “ A cage of nine meter diameter costs Rs 10 lakh and this could be used for five to six years,” he said.