The Ring Net controversy has yet again come to the fore in Visakhapatnam. A few days ago, two groups from fishing villages in Peda Jalaripeta clashed over the same issue. Again, on Friday, tensions between the two groups erupted. Fishermen in traditional, ring nets often get into fights with each other. Three days ago, Fisheries Minister Appalaraju suggested a solution to the dispute, but the dispute between them was not resolved.
Fishermen use a wide variety of nets for fishing. These include Ring Net, Table Net, Ali Net, Posa and Sadaram. The nets are used based on the fish species found in certain seasons. Fishermen who want to hunt big fish prepare nets in such a way that the smaller fish which get caught in the net, can escape into the sea. Fishermen refer to this as eyes, and it makes way for small fish to get into the sea if they are caught in the nets set for big fish.
These eyes vary in size depending on the species of fish. Large-scale anglers make nets to keep small fish from becoming extinct. Fishermen who usually hunt for big fish use the mechanized boats. The rest are traditional fishermen. They go fishing on small boats and rafts about six kilometres away from the shore. Now their livelihood is in jeopardy leading to a war between the fishermen.
The nets work differently than ring nets. The farmers in a group of 15 to 50 members enter the sea in at least 2 to 10 boats with ring nets. With the help of these nets, which are about half a kilometre in radius can wrap up large fishes. No matter how wide the nets are, all species of fish within that range must be trapped in the nets. Even small fish do not have enough eyes to escape in this kind of net. Wrapping these nets in a circle will cause a large number of small fish to die. With this, the traditional fishermen are unable to find fish in the area. Due to this, the traditional fishermen are losing their livelihood.
The government has restricted the use of the net eight kilometres away from the shore. But with the fishermen using this inside the 8 Km radius, the traditional fishermen are losing, leading to fighting among themselves. The Fisheries minister asked both the groups to stop the fight but within two days of his visit, the issue resurfaced. The traditional fishermen are demanding the government to ban the ring net as this is not only taking their livelihood but also killing several species of fishes.
