Two ship accidents occurring off the coast of Kerala, within a fortnight of each other, have caused severe hardship to the people, and in particular, to the fish workers of Kerala. The two ship accidents and the subsequent 52-day ban on trawling have completely devastated the livelihood of the fish workers. Moreover, this has affected the demand of working people for fish, which is an essential part of their diet.
The first accident, which occurred on 25 May, involved a Liberian cargo vessel. The vessel was carrying more than 600 containers of hazardous chemical. The second accident occurred on 9 June when a Singapore-flagged cargo ship caught fire, leading to explosions in the ship and in the sea. The vessel was carrying 143 containers of hazardous chemicals and pesticides. The contents included substances classified by the International Maritime Organisation as dangerous goods.
The two accidents reflect a serious neglect of safety measures that should have been taken by the concerned authorities in the country. The Mercantile Marine Department (MMD), Directorate General of Shipping, of Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Government of India is the authority responsible for the safe, efficient and environmentally responsible operation of all shipping within India’s maritime jurisdiction, i.e., 200 nautical miles from the coast of India.
The Kerala Matsyathozhilali Aikya Vedi (Kerala Fish Workers’ Unity Forum) has justifiably asked this question of the MMD – why were these ships allowed to ply within India’s nautical jurisdiction without any supervision by the MMD? The manner and short time within which the vessel sank on 25 May has indicated a lack of its fitness, seaworthiness and stability. Moreover, both the ships contained cargo that was hazardous and polluting.
The Fish Workers Unity Forum has also pointed out that fish workers’ unions and the Fisheries department had cited the need to curb ships from operating within 50 nautical miles off the Kerala coast, to prevent possible collision between ships that mostly travelled in the north-south direction and the fishing vessels that operated mostly in the east-west direction. Fish workers’ unions had agitated in Kochi harbour in 2020 for the fulfilment of this demand. But this has been ignored by the MMD. In fact, the first ship sank within 15 nautical miles off the coast.
The Kerala Fish Workers’ Unity Forum is also demanding of the MMD that it carries out its responsibility in promptly investigating the cause of these accidents, and determining the compensation that the owners of the shipping vessels must pay. The fish workers are demanding that their loss of livelihood be compensated immediately with some reasonable amount while the MMD pursues the payment of compensation by the shipping companies.
Such incidents expose the criminal disregard of the state for the safety of the fish workers and for the impact on their livelihood. The Indian state turns a blind eye to regulations and rules that are necessary to protect the lives of workers and toilers, while it draws up labour codes in the interests of “ease of business” of the capitalists.
Fish workers are already facing many challenges to their lives and livelihood because of depletion of fish stocks as a result of the deep sea and offshore mining by the capitalist companies. The Indian state has been ignoring the demands of lakhs of fish workers that it takes measures to ensure their right to livelihood. Their lives and livelihood are further endangered by such ship accidents that can be prevented from occurring within our maritime jurisdiction. The MMD and concerned authorities of the State must be held accountable for the same.
The united struggle of the Fish workers for their right to life and livelihood demands support of all working people.