Chinese engines sailing smooth in Kerala waters

KOCHI The Fisheries Department is finding it difficult to implement the ban on the use of Chinese engines in fishing vessels owing to resistance from boat owners’ unions. The decision to ban Chinese engines was taken as it was found that they cause severe ecological damage and pose a threat to sustainable fishing.  “A large number of boats have Chinese engines and they will suffer heavy losses if the ban is enforced. There is a strong opposition against the ban,” said Saira Banu, Deputy Director of Fisheries. According to the estimates of All-Kerala Boat Owners’ Association, there are around 1,000 boats and about 400 mechanised canoes in the state which use Chinese engines. The boats with 450 HP Chinese engines can travel at greater speeds than the indigenous Ashok Leyland and Tata engines, which have a maximum capacity of 200 HP. Chinese engines also enable the use of large nets and easy movement at sea. So these engines are popular among boat owners. “A ban on Chinese engines in Kerala will be illogical. Even if there is a ban here, fishermen from the other states will use them in our waters thus hitting the state’s fishing industry. There are about 600 huge foreign vessels that operate on Indian waters with  high-speed engines. It will only help reduce our competence at the global level. As of now, there is no indigenous marine engine that can be fitted in our boats. The available ones are land engines that have been modified for marine use. This is a huge handicap of the fishing industry here. Unless the government provides alternatives, the move for a blanket ban on Chinese fishing engines will hamper the industry,” said Francis Xavier Kalapurackal, president of All-Kerala Boat Owners’ Association. Meanwhile, the Fisheries Department is facing problems even in tracing the use of the engines. “During the registration of boats, there is no provision to register Chinese engines since they are comparatively new in the industry. Moreover, even in the case of registered boats there are chances that they have replaced slow engines with the Chinese ones. During our routine inspection of boats there is hardly any way to verify whether the engine is Chinese or not,“ said a senior official in the Fisheries Department.