Protesting fisherfolk spread net across districts

MADURAI: On a day when protests by the fishing community raged across several districts, the Kanyakumari administration put the number of missing fishermen at 462, of which 35 had set sail in 13 country boats and 427 in deep sea fishing boats.
However, Kanyakumari district collector Sajjansingh R Chavan said on Sunday that there was still hope. The previous day’s figures were 582 fishermen missing but the number of crafts and fishermen had been coming down.“The number of missing fishers will reduce further as most of them are deep sea fishermen and many are expected to reach the shore”, he said.
Five Thoothoor fishermen had been sent on Coast Guard ship Vaibhav which was tasked with searching in the extended Exclusive Economic Zone west off Kavaratti and Bitra Islands. Two more fishermen from Thoothoor were going to join the ship off Cape Comorin, according to Indian Coast Guard.
Indian Coast Guard Ship Samar on Saturday found fishing vessels Jesus Love and Kadal Matha, 324 kilometres west of Kasargod coast. Both vessels were from Colachel and family members were informed about the crew of these vessels. Indian Navy Ship Subhadra, operating off Lakshadweep and Minicoy Islands, sighted two fishing vessels, Milkyas and Felaxiya, both from Tamil Nadu, 342 km west off New Mangalore. Both the boats were provided with water and have started proceeding towards the harbour. Subhadra also found two capsized fishing boats, one by name Annei, 396 km west of Kasargod but there were no survivors or debris. Another capsized boat, a 7-metre-long craft with two outboard motors named AVM EP Thurai with blue colour hull, was sighted by the ship, 350 km west of Beypore, Kerala.
Meanwhile, peace rallies, fasts and human chains by the fishing community raged across Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts on Sunday as protests seeking to declare cyclone Ocki a national disaster and to trace missing fishers spilled over from Kanyakumari to other districts.
At Idinthakarai coastal village near Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tirunelveli district, villagers went on a peace rally around the church after Sunday mass. They condemned the state and central governments for failing fishermen and not saving them in time from cyclone Ockhi. In Tuticorin city, Catholic Fishermen Welfare Association held a meeting attended by fishermen community leaders, traders and clergy to pay homage to all fishermen who perished in the cyclone. They called for expediting rescue measures.
Fishermen in Rameswaram took out a peace rally from St Xavier Church to Infant Jesus Church in Thangachimadam, where the holy mass was conducted praying for all missing fishermen and their families. The fishermen urged the Centre and state government to provide adequate compensation to the fishermen families. Hundreds of men, women and children from six coastal hamlets starting from Muttom to Rajakkamangalamthurai stood in a human chain in the sea condemning the state and central governments.