Purse Seine Fishing

The SC’s interim order of January 24, 2023, against the banning of purse seine fishing by the Tamil Nadu Government in February 2022.

The SC has granted fishermen employing purse seine fishing gear permission to fish beyond territorial seas and Tamil Nadu’s EEZ, subject to certain conditions.

About
- A purse seine is a long netting wall framed with floating and leadline.
- Purse rings dangle from the lower edge of the gear, through which a purse line composed of steel wire or rope goes, allowing the net to be pursed.
- A vertical net ‘curtain’ is used to surround the school of fish, with the bottom dragged together to enclose the fish, similar to tightening the cords of a drawstring bag.
- They target dense schools of single-species pelagic (midwater) fish such as tuna and mackerel in the open ocean.
- Some states are concerned about the declining stocks of small, pelagic shoaling fish.
  - For example sardines, mackerel, anchovies, and trevally off the western shores.

It is an environmentally damaging activity that involves trawlers dragging weighted nets down the seafloor, depleting aquatic resources significantly.
Bottom trawling takes juvenile fish, depleting ocean resources and jeopardising marine conservation initiatives.
This practice was initiated by Tamil Nadu fishermen in Palk Bay and was extensively pursued throughout Sri Lanka’s civil war.

About
- The 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty.
- It defines the legal foundation for marine and maritime operations.
- Additionally, it is also referred to as the Law of the Sea.
- It categorises marine areas into five major zones:
  - Internal waters
  - Territorial sea
  - Contiguous zone
  - Exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
  - High seas.
- It is the only international treaty establishing a foundation for state sovereignty in maritime areas.
- It gives various maritime zones varied legal statuses.
- It serves as the foundation for offshore governance by coastal states and those who navigate the oceans.
- It not only zones the offshore areas of coastal states but also gives explicit guidelines for states’ rights and obligations inside the five concentric zones.
- While nearly all of the South China Sea’s coastal countries have signed and ratified UNCLOS, its meaning is still hotly debated.
- Furthermore, there is also a maritime conflict in the East China Sea.

Just limiting purse seiner fishing to Monday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (as stated in the Court decision) is insufficient without regulating the fishing methods utilised.
International legal initiatives are gradually shifting away from using large-scale pelagic nets.
The enormous size of purse seine nets (2,000 m in length and 200 m in depth) allows for maximum capture for purse seiners.
In addition, it leaves insufficient catch for conventional fishermen.
Some regional organisations, such as the South Pacific Forum’s Tarawa Declaration in 1989, either prohibit or call for the prohibition of huge drift nets.
The 1989 Convention on the Prohibition of Long Drift Net Fishing in the South Pacific goes so far as to ban drift net fishing vessels’ port access.
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) backed and strengthened this progress by passing Resolutions 44/225 (1989) and 46/215 (1991).
It is called for a moratorium on all large-scale pelagic drift net fishing vessels on the high seas.

Despite the best conservation measures and regulation of fishing methods adopted by the authorities.
It will be difficult to deal with the endless nature of the seas, which makes a shared resource like fish available for exploitation by everybody.
Garrett Hardin’s idea, ‘The Tragedy of the Commons,’ which states that “freedom in a commons brings destruction to all,” should persuade all fishermen.
Furthermore, the purse seiners of Tamil Nadu, in particular, must cooperate to comply with conservation measures.

Pic Courtesy: Science

Content Source: The Hindu