Tsunami Survivors

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New fishing nets help fishermen

     Cochin (Kerala): Over a month after the December 26 tsunami, fishermen along India's southern coast are gearing up to return to the sea with the government and voluntary organisations helping them acquire new fishing nets. Officials say 10,882 fishing boats and thousands of fishing nets, worth over one billion rupees, have been destroyed or damaged by the killer waves in Kerala state alone.

Nets being manufactured in a net factory in Kochi.

Many small and medium net makers in Kerala are working overtime to meet the demand for fishing nets from various organisations donating fishing nets to the tsunami-hit fisher folk. "Not only from Kerala, many NGO's, missionaries and charitable institutions are approaching us for providing them with necessary fishing nets at various places and many other inquires are also coming in," said P.P. Surendran, Manager of Matsyafed Net Factory. "Now the government is giving us many orders to supply nets to the fisher folks who lost their nets during tsunami and for that we are working day and night and taking all necessary steps to do the needful," said Surendran.

     Though most fisherman have overcome their fear and have put back the trauma of losing loved ones, yet surmounting the economics of survival seems as the biggest hurdle now. According to experts an estimated 5,000 tonnes of nets of various sizes and shapes have been lost in India. India has a yearly demand of 10,000 tonnes of fishing nets in the traditional as well as mechanized sector. All along India's tsunami-damaged coastline, fishermen are beginning to return to the sea. Although many would prefer to adopt a different trade, but know no other work. Feb 3, 2005

Fisher-folk in tsunami-hit south India fear debt trap

     Nagapattinam: The tsunami-battered fisherfolk of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu are clamouring for grants instead of loans to start their life afresh. More than a month into the disaster, Nagapattinam tells a grim tale with damaged boats and heaps of torn nets dotting the seashore. The poor villagers say they cannot accept loans, as they do not want to fall into a debt trap. "We don't want loan. What we want is, help in the name of compensation, because the moment you give loan we have to repay and we are not capable of doing that. We have lost everything. The government is trying to play with us in times of suffering by putting us in a loan trap," said Periyambalam, the president of the local body in Saamandapettai village. Officials said they have conveyed the grievances to the higher authorities to sort out the matter. "The Nagapattinam fishermen have been the worst affected. So they feel that in normal circumstances they should not be compared to other fishermen. We have conveyed the feelings to the appropriate authority," said J Radhakrishnan, the district collector of Nagapattinam.
- Feb 3, 2005

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