Courtesy: M Raghuram / The Hindu

• Coastal line of Dakshina Kannada wears a deserted look

Mangalore, Jul 15: The coastline of Mangalore city in particular and Dakshina Kannada district in general wears a deserted look unlike in the previous years. One is tempted to add that it is but a common sight during monsoons. A closer look at their condition in the past reveals that it was not all that bad as it is today. These small catamarans, otherwise called Naadadoni or country crafts, used to go fishing even during the monsoon.
 
This year, none of these daredevil fishermen ventured into the sea as it appeared to be unusually rough and stormy since monsoon began in June. The fishermen take out their fibre boats fitted with outboard engines and venture into the sea when mechanised boats stay away since fishing is banned during monsoon. These smaller groups of fishermen ensure that those who relish fish do not miss their bowl of hot fish curry during the monsoon.
 
Organised into groups of 3-4 boats called “funds”, they undertake coastal fishing within 3-4 km into the sea and catch fish such as mackerels and sardines. Sometimes, they do catch prawns that fetch them more. Each fund gets nothing less than Rs 10 lac in a season which is distributed equally among the members.

But this time, the sea continued to be rough and stormy till the second week of July rendering it impossible for the boats to venture into the sea. President of the “naadadoni fishermen’s federation” Sharat Guddekopplu, told The Hindu that such rough condition in the sea was not seen in the last 30 years.
 
Sharat says these fishermen belonged to poorer classes of the community. In the mechanised boats, they worked as labourers and during the monsoon they try to earn something extra which they saved. Every year individual “fund” groups borrow up to Rs 2 lac from the banks at 12 per cent interest hoping that they can repay it after the monsoon catch.
But this time, it may not be possible to repay the loan as they could not venture into the sea.
 
The fate of “funds” in Udupi district is no different. According to the “Bengre Naadadoni Meenugarara Sangha” president Naveen Suvarna there are about 2,000 boats along the coastal Karnataka unified with the federation. “Fund” groups managing over 1,400 boats in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts were facing financial crisis.
Over 600 boats in Uttara Kannada district had a fair share of fishing days during the current monsoon, he added.

Sharat says the naadadoni-fishermen were also constrained by the Court order restricting the outboard engine capacity to 10 HP. The federation has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to allow engines up to 25 HP.