A large number of fishing boats are tied to the anchor in the fishing jetty of Kharinashi and Ramnagar ever since a fishing ban has been imposed in Gahirmatha on November 1.
The ban from November 1 to May 31 has been in force in accordance with provisions of Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act (OMFRA), 1982 and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982 and Orissa Marine Fishing Rules, 1983 to protect the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles at the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary.
These traditional fishers are now in trouble due to the ban as they are unable to earn their daily bread.
According to traditional fishermen, they never used to kill turtles as they worship the marine species by taking it as one of the incarnations of lord Bishnu. The turtles are killed by the nets of the mechanized deep sea fishing trawlers only. However, without considering the problem of the traditional fishers, the ban was imposed indiscriminately. As a result, the fate of nearly 20,000 traditional marine fishermen in Mahakalapada and Rajnagar blocks now hangs in balance.
Sea fishing is the only source of collecting the bread for the traditional fishermen of the district. In 1997, the Government declared Gahiramatha area as a marine sanctuary to protect the turtles as its beach is famous for the being world’s largest rookery of Olive Ridley turtles.
The traditional fishermen are extremely conscious about the importance of conserving marine life. It would be erroneous to assume that the traditional fishermen are killing the turtles, said Narayan Haldar, the chief advisor of Orissa Traditional Fish Workers’ Union (OTFWU).
“There used to be more than 20,000 marine fishermen in the seaside villages of Kendrapara district catching fish in the sea. Now, thousands fishermen left the locality and they are going to port town Paradip and other districts as well as to other States to work as daily wagers,” informed Haldar.
Though the State Government has been providing subsidised PDS rice meant for the fishermen, but a majority of jobless fishermen are left uncovered under the Fishermen Development Project. The genuine fishermen have not been covered in the project whereas several businessmen and nontraditional marine fishermen have managed to getlisted.
The Government should include Fishermen Co-operative societiesin ICZMP for providing benefits to the fishermen, hike the financial assistance under the ICZMP for providing loans to the SHGs and set up small scale industry in the district for providing employment opportunities to the fishermen, demanded the traditional marine fisher folk community.
The fishermen have also demanded to demarcate line of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, reduce the marine sanctuary area from Chinchiri mouth to Dhamara mouth and reduce ban area from 20 km off the coast to 10 km.
According to Additional Director of Fishery (Marine) department, Kujanga, Biraja Prasanna Mohapatra, as many as 3,901 affected marine fishermen of Mahakalapada and 2,296 affected marine fishermen of Rajnagar have been getting subsidised rice of `1. The Marine Fishery Department also provided financial assistance to 234 SHGs under ICZMP project, Mohapatra told.