5,000 trawlers banned off Kerala coast for 52 days (Lead)

Starting Sunday midnight, a 52-day monsoon-trawling ban will be imposed in Kerala's coastal waters for the 31st year in succession. It will prohibit around 5,000 trawl-boats from venturing any closer than 12 nautical miles to stop damage to the breeding process of fish during the season.

"Any boat which breaks these rules will be fined Rs 2.5 lakh," said an official, requesting anonymity.

Until the ban is lifted on the midnight of July 31, the trawlers would have to keep away at least 12 nautical miles from Kerala's coastal waters.

However, the ban, that has been imposed annually since 1988, will not apply to the traditional fishermen.

The trawlers are banned from fishing in the coastal waters because this is the time when fishes breed and any disturbance to that process will deplete the marine wealth, a state government fisheries official told IANS.

As a result of the ban, fish -- a staple food in the coastal state of Kerala -- will become costlier. Kerala has over 200 marine fishing villages and over seven lakh fishermen.