Kochi fishermen seek government help in off-season

By Aiman Khan
Kochi (Kerala) [India], March 21 : Several fishermen in Kochi said they are not happy with government policies and need help in the off-season.
In a conversation with ANI, fisherman Abdul said, "It's the off-season for fishing and we don't have any catch. What can we sell and earn?"
"The government is not providing us any fund or any kind of help so that we can subsist in the off-season. The government is saying that they are providing homes but we didn't get anything. I filed my papers but got no response from the government," he said.
Another fisherman James crying for help and food said, "We don't have food to eat. I have three children but I don't have food to feed them. Due to off-season there is no catch and our earning only depends on fish catch but the government is not releasing any fund for us. We want help."
Charles George, convener of the Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi said, "We are between devil and the deep sea, especially traditional fish workers. Recently central government brought out the blue economy framework document, but we are not happy with this. We asked the state government to counter these policies by the central govt."
"We are facing fish drought. We ask the state government to give us fish farming relief package. We are asking govt to give us a relief package and enough kerosene also. We ask the left government to give us our due rights. We are also against the treaty with an American company. Due to our protest, the treaty has been cancelled," said Charles George.
"We want the government to release relief package given to us and govt should recognise our due right of ownership in fishing sector to fish workers. Modernisation is must. This is our demand from the government," he said.