Fishermen form 500 km long human chain for safety

May 01, 2012: Nearly half a million people on Saturday formed a 500 km-long human chain from Kerala to Tamil Nadu to demand safety and security of Indian fishermen.
Several people, including Church and political leaders, civil society activists and fisherfolk, formed the human chain from Irayimman Thura near Kanyakumari a town in Tamil Nadu to Manjeswaram, a coastal village in Kerala’s Kasargod district at 5 p.m.

The unique protest was to demand safety against the backdrop of recurring attacks and killing of Indian fishermen by passing vessels. Archbishop Maria Calist Soosapakiam of Trivandrum’s Latin archdiocese inaugurated the event at Shanghumugham beach in Kerala. There he was joined by Communist Party of India Marxist state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and social activists who pledged to strive for measures to ensure safety of fishermen.

“There are laws to protect the safety of fishermen and several agencies are associated with the safety of fishermen. But there is a lack of coordination among these agencies and hence things do not happen the way it should,” the archbishop said.

The passing ships ply 20 nautical miles from the Indian coast to avoid piracy threats which results in collision with fishing boats, said T. Peter, convener of Kerala Independent Fish Workers Federation and one of chief organizers of the event.

“The protest was not to show our strength. But to plead to the world that our fishermen and their livelihood need to be protected. No fishermen in the state had gone to the sea on April 28,” he told ucanews.com.