In the cochin fisheries harbour, controlled by cochin port trust, nearly 5,000 people are employed

In various operations connected with the handling of fish catches from an average of 300 fishing vesselsdue to this strike by the fish merchants all the fishing boats operating from the harbour had to Suspend their fishing operations.the crew members of these purse seiners are understood to have started an agitation for getting increased share of their wages.the crew wants the original payment of the share of wages restored and are agitating for the same. In resolving such problems in the various fisheries,  more concern and involvement of the state department of fisheries would be helpful

Abdul Nizar, M

Balachandran, K

Reghu, R

CMFRI Digital Repository

No.36March 1982CRISIS IN FISHERIES HARBOUR, COCHIN* Suspension of fish landings at the harbour First week of January 1982 In the Cochin Fisheries Harbour, controlled by Cochin Port Trust, nearly 5,000 people are employed in various operations connected with the handling of fish catches from an average of 300 fishing vessels (42' purse seiners - 40, 32' purse seine carriers - 80, 24' gill net boats - 50 and 32' shrimp trawlers - 130). Fish worth about Rs. 8.0 lakhs are handled at the harbour daily. After the berthing of the vessels the catch is sold straight away or cifter unloading, by auction and the fish sold thus is pjacked with ice and removed from the harbour quay by the merchants. Each cate-gory viz: the owner, the agent or the merchant have freedom to engage their own labour for the work con-nected with the fish handling at the harbour. To have an effective control on the proper handling of fish, the harbour authorities have imposed some restrictions for the entry of merchants and persons connected with the trade. Licences for carrying out these works are being granted by the harbour authorities on pay-ment of specified fees and this has been the practice from the time of the commissioning of the harbour in December 1978. At present there are about 650 licenced mer-chants, who participate in auction and remove the fish by all modes of conveyance except by bicycles. Each one of them is provided with 3 entry passes; one for himself and the other two for his labourers. In addition to these, there are also about 400 licenced merchants who purchase fish and remove by bicyles and who are given one entrance pass each. There are also about 85 fish buying agents who are provided with 10 entry passes each for his use as well as his workers. Besi-des, a large number of other extra labourers also enter inside the harbour paying the prescribed entrance fee. The number of extra labourers depends mainly on the landings. Apart from these the authori-ties are collecting prescribed berthing charges for vari-ous types of fishing boats which come to the harbour for the disposal of the fish, as well as fixed toll charges for the different types of vehicles coming inside the harbour for transport of fish catches. All these toll charges, licences fees and berthing charges remained unchanged till 31-12-1981. The rates of these licences and fees were revised recently and the implimentation of the revised rates from 1-1-1982 is understood to have triggered the crisis at the harbour from 1-1-1982. As a protest against the harbour authorities fish landings were boycotted by all the categories of people engaged in the trade. The old rates and the enhcmced rates from 1-1-1982 are given in table 1. Details concerning the agitation On the morning of 1st January 1982 when the drift gill net boats arrived at the harbour as usual to dispose of the catch, the authorities claimed the enhanced berthing charge of Rs 5/- instead of the old rate of Rs 3/-. The boat crew refused to pay these enhanced rates. The merchants and the agents joined hands and did not participate in the sale of the fishes. Out of the 29 drift net boats berthed, a few that unlo-aded their catch did not get any reasonable price due to the non-cooperation of the agents and the mer-chants. So the remaining boats took their catches to the nearby private jetties and sold the fish. None of the lx)ats paid the berthing charges. In the afternoon of the same day 2 purse seiners and 12 carrier boats were observed at the harbour, with the catch iced and covered with coconut pedm (Cudjan) leaves in the boat itself due to lack of agents and merchants for the sale. Their catch consisted of a total of 7.5 tonnes of Caranx djeddaba, 13.5 tonnes of Oil sardine (Sardinella hngiceps), 200 kg of Seer fish (Scomberomorus commerson) and 100 kg of black pomfret {Parastromateus niger). By abtout 16.00 hrs all these boats left the harbour with the fish and dispo-sed it at the nearby private jetties at Thoppumpady, Fort Cochin, Vypcen and Murukkumpadam area. A total of 14 purse seiners and 153 carriers as well as several shrimp trawlers that arrived at the harbour also had to take their catches to other arecis for sel-ling. A few boats that unloaded their catch at the har-bour had to sell their fish at throw away prk:es. On 2-1-1982 only drift net boats brought catches to the harbour. But all the 37 of them left the harbour without unloading and disposed the catches at the nearby jetties. Next day being a Sunday none of the boats ope-rated. On 4.1.82, 35 drift net boats, 24 purse seiners and 127 carrier boats and shrimp trawlers together, after bringing their catches to the harbour left without unloading to nearby areas for the sde of fish. On 5-1-1982, out of a total of 26 drift net boats berthed at the harbour 9 sold their fish at the harbour without paying any berthing charges. The rest 17 numbers landed at the Amruth Ice eend Cokd Storage jetty at Thoppumpady after paying Rs 1/- each as lan-ding charges. The agents and the merchants actively •Prepared by R. Reghu, K. Balachandran and M. Abdul Nizar. 16 Table 1. Charges levied by t/ie Harbour authorities at Cochin Items Old rate from Dec. 1?78 to 31.12.81 Enhanced rate from 1.1.'82 Revised rate after the agitation BerMig charges i. Purse seiners ii. Trawlers & purse seine carriers iii. GiO net boats Rs IS/- per day with catchRs 25/- per arrival with catchRs 25/- per arrival with catch Rs 5/- •' Rs 7J50/- " Rs 6/-Rs 3/- " Rs 5/- " Rs 4/-C. licence fees i. Merchants vJno partake in auction In the harbour and remove the fish purchased by all modes of Rs 30/- per month conveyance except by bicycles ii. Merchants who purchase fish and remove by bicycleib 10/- per month ni. Agents working in the Harbour Rs 100/- per month T(dl for entry qf vehicles (from 6.00 AM to 6.00 AM next day) i. Hand cart Rs 1/- per day 1. Auto truck iii. Cycles with maximum 2 iv. Tempo van V. Lorry baskets Rs 1/-Rs 0.50 Rs 2/-Rs 4/-Rs S(V- per month Rs 15/- per month Rs isq/- per month Rs 2/- per day Rs 3/-Rs V - " Rs 5/- " Rs 10/- " Rs 50/- per month from March 1982 cnwaids only Rs 15/-Rs 150/-Rs 2/- per day Rs 2/-Rs V -Rs 5/- " Rs 10/- " D. Extra levy for vehicles for apace utilised by the articles in connection with the harkKng, scales etc. Hand cart/Auto truck ii. Tempo vans with materials iii. Lorry with materials iv. Extra levy for the ice taken inside the harix>ur by cuny mode V. Entry fee for extra labour NU Nil Na Nil Rs 2/-Rs 2/- per trip with nurterials ra such as creeper, baskets, cu($an leaves etc. Rs 4/- " NU Rs y - •• NU 25 paise per block of 50 kg 15 paise per bkx:k of 50 kg (subject to a mriimum of Rs V-Xno minimum payntent of Rs 1/-) Rs V- Rs 1/-E. Bert/ling charges for crafts used for unloading materials i. Boats other them gillnets ii. Gill net boats iii. Extra charges for space utilisation (for materials landed from the vA/aterside) a) Materieds like creepers, baskets, cudjan leaves etc unloaded from Trawl net boats b) Materials like creepers, bciskets, cudjan leaves etc unloaded from gill net boats Charges for utilising space for net repairs i. Purse seine nets ii. Gill nets iii. Trawl nets Rs Na Nil Nil Nil /- per day Nil Nil Rs 7.50/- per day Rs 5/-Rs 5/- per arrival Rs 3/-Rs 25/- per day Rs 5/- per day Rs 5/- per day Rs 7.50/- per day Rs 5/-Rs 5/- per arrival Rs 3/-Rs 25/- per day Rs 5/- per day Rs 5/- per day Charges for using bath rooms & latrines i. Bathrooms ii. Latrines 20 paise per bath 10 paise per one use 20 paise per bath 10 paise per one use 20 paise per bath 10 paise per one use participated in the selling and purchasing of the catch here. From 5-1-1982 to 7-1-1982 the purse seine as well as the trawl catches were taken to different pla-ces for sale. It is urderstood that \hey have selected landing centres right from Alleppey in the South to Narakkal in the North and to Chambakkara in the east in the Vempanad lake area depending on availabi-lity of facilities for unk>ading and transportation of the catch. Negotiation and restoratbn of nmtnal activities The enhanced tcril charges and the other rates were intimated to the public by the harbour authori-ties through a notificatk>n in the Kerala Gazette published on 22-12-1981. The representatives of the 17 various categories of people engaged in the trade met and submitted a memorandum to the Chairman of the Cochin Port Trust who is also the Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Cochin Fisheries Harbour on 31-12-1981, requesting for a stay in the implementa-tion of the revised rates for sometime in order to ena-ble them to discuss the matter in detail with the Chairman. The Chairman assured the representatives that due consideration would be given to their repre-sentatbn, at the meeting of the Board of Trusties and Advisory Committee. Following a discussion of the representatives of the trade with the Chairman on 7-1-1982, (the 7th day of the agitation) in which the latter gave the assu-rtince that their protest in the enhancement of the rates would be seriously considered and a positive decision in their favour taken in the next Advisory Committee Meeting, the normal functioning of the Fis-heries Harbour was resumed from 8-1-1982. As assu-red by the Chairman, the Advisory Committee of the Cochin Fisheries Harbour met on 22-1-1982 and after discussions e^reed to reduce some of the revised bert-hing charges for the boats, toll charges of some of the vehicles, the toll charges on ice etc. (vide table I). First week of February 1982 Cochin Fisheries Harbour constructed at a cost of Rs 4.0 crores, although provided with the facilities for handling, packing and transport of the catch, lacks one of the vital facilities ie. an Ice Plant that could produce required quantities of ice for preserving the catches landed. Inside the Caimpus there is a small ice plant with a capacity of 25 tonnes per day managed by a private party and started functioning recently. Lack of sufficient ice to preserve the catch has resulted in dumping large quantities of decayed oil sardine and other fishes on several occasions. On 28-1-1982 for instance, a total of about 1,000 tonnes of big sized oil sardine (180-215 mm) was caught off Cochin and brought to the harbour by the purse seiners and carriers. In addition, indigenous crafts fitted with out board engines were also hired by the purse seiners in the sea to carry the oil sardine catch to nearby centres. As there was not sufficient ice available in the Fisheries Harbour to preserve the 1,000 tonnes of oil sardine landed there, the merchants were reluctant to purchase the fish. With the result the price came down from the usual rate of Rs 900-1,500 to Rs 400- 500 per tonne. Even at the reduced price the whole catch was not taken. So nearly 25 tonnes of decayed oil sardine were dumped in the backwaters and several tonnes of decayed fish were transported for use as manure. The ice required at the Fisheries Harbour has to be brought from nearby private Ice Factories in and around Cochin in 50 kg blocks by lorries, push carts and other transports and thus made available inside the harbour for purchase. Initially in 1978 the price of ice inside the harbour was Rs 70/- per tonne which later rose to Rs 100/- per tonne. Till 31-12-1981, the harbour authorities were not levying any charges for bringing ice inside the harbour. But from 1-1-1982 onwards a levy of 25 paise per ice block of 50 kg subject to a minimum of Rs 1/- was introduced. As a result the ice merchants increased the price of ice from Rs 100/- to Rs 115/-per tonne. In protest against this increase in the price of ice, the fish merchants started an agitation and struck work from 3-2-1982 demanding a reduction of the price of ice. Their demands also included commi-ssioning of an ice Factory and a freezing plant inside the harbour. The grievance of the fish merchants was that the price of the ice was only Rs 45/- per tonne in the neighbouring places of Cochin. Due to this strike by the fish merchants all the fishing boats operating from the harbour had to suspend their fishing operations. The protest and the agitation by the fish merchants continued for 3 days from 3-2-1982 to 5-2-1982. However, normal fishing operations were resumed on 6-2-1982 onwards after the private ice plant owners at Cochin agreed to reduce the price of ice to Rs 95/- per tonne as a result of negotiations by the Sub-Collector of Emakulam. The levy of 25 paise per ice block of 50 kg was reduced to 15 paise, without any fixation of minimum. Problems of the purse seine boat crew There are about 52 purse seine boats operating at Cochin Fisheries Harbour each having a crew of about 30 persons. The crew members of these purse seiners are understood to have started an agitation for getting increased share of their wages. Till recently the crew were given 30% of the amount realised from sale of catch as their share, (ie. 30'^ of the total price of the fish, after deduction of 5% commission for the auctioner or the agent). From December 1981 the purse seine boat owners are giving to the crew only 30"o of the net amount realised (ie. after deducting the days expenses such as diesel, oil, mess expenses for the crew etc. from the total realised anxxant). The crew wants the original payment of the share of wages restored and are agitating for the same. Negotiations for an amicable settlement of the problem are under way and it is hoped that a settlement in the grievences of the crew will be found 18 soon, which would very much help in the snraoth segments of the fisheries, more concern and functioning of the purse seine fishing activity at involvement of the State Department of Fisheries Cochin. In resolving such problems in the various would be helpful. 

Crisis in fisheries harbour, Cochin

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Crisis in fisheries harbour, Cochin

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