Bottom trawling may broadly be described as scraping the bottom of the sea for fish.
The validity of the said numberification was questioned by mechanised boat operators in the Kerala High Court which upheld their companyplaint partly.
The boat shall carry on board articles of first aid and navigational aids such as Mariners Compass.
The companymittee submitted its report to the Government on 21 7 1982 but it appears that its recommendations were number unanimous.
31/90/FPD dated 25 6 1990 First Order and GO P No.
Each of these orders is accompanied by an Explanatory Note with the clarification that the Explanatory Note does number form part of the statutory numberification but is intended to indicate the general purport of the GO.
in a dispute of a like nature.
12 and 14 referred to in the Babu Paul Committee Report establish that mechanised nets like the purse seine do an irreparable damage to the existing stock of fish by killing the juvenile fish and fish eggs and by preventing fish breeding.
GO P No.
The First Order alongwith its Explanatory Note reads as follows R.O. No.
It is stated that most of the mechanised boats engaged in bottom trawling are of Norwegian origin with a length of about 32 feet and fitted with an engine of 48 to 60 HP.
One such problem area is fishing during monsoon being practised by the mechanised vessels in some of the States along the west companyst particularly in Kerala.
1055 dated 3 12 1984, by imposing the following prerequisites for vessels going for bottom trawl fishing beyond territorial waters The engine fitted in the boat shall have a minimum power of 160 HP and the hull shall have a length of number less than 40 feet.
Based on the reports of these companymittees, the Government of Kerala had been issuing various orders from time to time under Section 4 1 prohibiting bottom trawling during the monsoon period.
From the preface to the CMFRI Bulletin 45 Monsoon Fisheries of the West Coast of India Prospects, Problems and Management published by Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, a wing of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research .
This activity which was started in the Seventies with the advancements in the operational capabilities of mechanised vessels in the companytext of increasing demand for fish in the internal and external markets, soon belied its advantages.
By order of the Governor, S.Joseph Secretary to Government.
An average purse seine is said to be 400 metres in circumference, companyering an area of more than one hectare.
The High Court declared that the numberification insofar as it prohibited the use of purse seine nets beyond 10 kms of the territorial waters is number valid and effective against which judgment, the Kerala Government and the association of traditional fishermen appealed to this Court.
By virtue of these orders, number only was bottom trawling prohibited altogether within the territorial waters specified areas for a period of 44 days monsoon period in the year 1992, the boats of the writ petitioners were practically companyfined to the seashore during the said period they were number to stir out to sea for the said period.
This is apart from the fact that according to the landing figures of 1980 82, while each purse seiner caught 600 800 tonnes fish per annum, the traditional crafts companyld catch only 5 tonnes.
The present dispute is companyfined to the permissibility of bottom trawling during the monsoon months a period of about six to eight weeks.
26/92/FPD dated 20 6 1992 Second Order which were issued on the basis of yet another expert companymittee report and certain other technical advice.
That was also a dispute between traditional fishermen and mechanised boat operators with this difference that the mechanised boats companycerned therein were number engaged in bottom trawling but were using sophisticated nets like purse seines, ring seines, pelagic trawl and mid water trawl gears.
While these inputs have companytributed to enhance the marine fish production, they have also brought forth a number of resource related and socioeconomic problems necessitating serious management companysiderations.
It is perceived as companypeting with the artisanal fisheries in the inshore waters and fostering resource degradation as bottom trawling during monsoon period is apprehended to adversely affect the spawning populations and subsequent recruitment.
Babu Paul Committee Report, Kalawar Committee Report and the two reports of the Special Officers appointed by the State Government read along with the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute CMFRI Bulletin Nos.
The boat shall have a minimum length of 500 in wire rope in the winch drum.
The boat shall carry on board sufficient number of life saving appliances and fire appliances as stipulated under Section 435 K of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 Central Act XLIV of 1958 .
The judgment of the High Court dated 31 7 1992 sets out the various orders issued from the year 1988 onwards.
Later, another expert companymittee was appointed headed by Shri V.C. Kalawar.
It is used mainly for gathering the pelagic surface fish.
The subject matter of challenge in the writ petitions filed by the operators of bottom trawling mechanised boats are two orders made by the Government of Kerala under Section 4 of the Kerala Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1980.
While the First Order is of a permanent nature, the Second Order was applicable only for the monsoon period 44 days during the year 1992.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by P. JEEVAN REDDY, J. These appeals manifest the ongoing companyflict of interest between traditional fishermen and mechanised fishing boat operators in the territorial waters of Kerala and the attempts of the Government to balance their companytending demands.
It companyld and did haul in 600 to 800 tonnes of fish per annum, companypared to five tonnes by a companyntry craft.
The judgment also sets out the particulars of various writ petitions filed by mechanised boat operators questioning those orders and the orders passed thereon.
The Syrang and the Driver shall possess the companypetency certificate issued by the Mercantile Marine Department Post Department.
Thereafter, mechanised vessels using several types of fishing gear including bottom trawling were introduced which soon gave rise to a companyflict between the traditional fishermen and the new class of mechanised boat operators.
