In India the total population of fishermen is over 12 million with over two-thirds depending on marine fishing. The competition faced by them with the advent of foreign trawllers has compelled the small-scale bear-chested, `lungi' worn fishermen to break the norms of fishing, which they had adhered to for generations.

The fisherfolks began their year in the month of August, when they went out to the high seas for their usual catch of `surmai' and `pomphret' amongst other big fishes followed by stationary fishing in lesser depths for smaller fishes beginning from November to January. These smaller fish comprised of shrimps and Bombay duck were dried and processed for sale in the market.

February to April again witnessed the fishermen going out for their catch. June and July were resting months when the fisherwomen fixed the damaged nets while the men prepared their boats for the next season.

All this has changed drastically in the last few years, the local fisherman has diverged from his traditional way in the face of stiff competition by the far more technically advanced foreign trawlers.

Thomas Xavier Kocherry, the general co-ordinator of the world forum of fish harvestor and fish worker says that 25,000 vessels in the world have depleted all the ocean except the Indian ocean. The foreign vessels under the guise of fishing are carrying away the valuable fish from the Indian seas.

The local fisherfolks are angry at the foreign trawlers and alleged `lawlessness' by them for venturing into the territorial waters of India. Their catch is effected they say. They are not equipped to fight the foreign trawlers with their small boats and dol nets. ``The kind of nets we have enable us to catch those fish which are driven into them through the current flow of the water, where as the trawlers have nets which they spread out in a large expanse of the water and catch all kinds of fish in the region irrespective of size or variety'', they say.

Octogenarian Hiraji Chikale, Chairman of the Versova Machhimar Vividha Karykari Sahakari Society Ltd in Mumbai, alleged that though foreign trawlers are prohibited to enter the Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) of 200 nautical miles those from Taiwan and neighbouring fishing nations have been flaunting norms.