Uninsured boats: Families pushed into debt

KOCHI: Beginning with the recent boat mishaps involving the Italian vessel Enrica Lexie and Prabhu Daya, the number of uninsured boats meeting with accidents are increasing by the day. Most of these accidents push the boat owners and their families into a lifetime of debt. However, there is neither any law nor any regulation put in place to ensure the insurance of these fishing boats.“As per the Kerala Marine Fisheries Regulation Act, that governs the working of the fisheries department, there is  regulation in place to push for insurance. So, the department is compelled to do the registration of the fishing vessels which approach it without insurance,” said  K G Georgekutty, deputy director, Department of Fisheries.Officials from the department also allege that in spite of repeated insistence on insurance through notices and programmes, the fishermen are reluctant to go for the insurance. “In most of these cases the fishermen are reluctant to take the insurance as it involves heavy costs and monthly premium. Whenever there is a push from the side of the fisheries department on the issue, the fishermen end up influencing the higher authorities through the vote bank politics, thereby avoiding the insurance,” said a senior official from the fisheries department.Another issue is that while many of the banks insist that the fishermen take up insurance to avail loans to buy the boats and fishing equipment, the same is not mandatory when its comes to loans from the fishermen’s welfare boards or the Matsyafed, prompting many of the fishermen to turn their heads away from insurance. However, fishermen have a different story to tell. “The fishermen are reluctant to get their boats insured because the insurance companies provide reimbursement only for the boats and not for the nets. Each fishing unit costs around `70,000, of which one third goes to the nets. So when the companies fail to provide insurance for the net, it is a loss for the fishermen.  The agencies, even those appointed by the government, claim that the fishermen can claim false figures when it comes to nets and hence, it cannot be taken into account,” said T Peter, state president, Kerala Independent Fishworkers Federation.