Vessels violating shipping channels to be blamed

KOCHI: As two fishermen were killed on Wednesday after they were shot from a merchant vessel, the fishermen’s organisations allege that the violation of shipping channels by the merchant vessels and their navigation near the coast are the reasons for the tragedy.“After the Vallarpadam container terminal was opened, a number of ships, especially, those from Mangalore violate the shipping routes. Earlier these ships went to Sri Lanka or to the ports in Tamil Nadu. But now, many of them halt at Vallarpadam and often violate the shipping channels. This leads to a crowding in the waters close to the coast where the fishermen are fishing. This is a factor behind the incident that happened on Wednesday, the Kerala Independent Fish Workers’ Federation president K Peter said  Dubai Port (DP) World, which operates the Vallarpadam terminal however, denied the allegation. “The allegation is baseless. Usually ships do not come near the shore due to lack of depth. Especially, when it comes in the areas where the fishing boats are operating, the propellers would get entangled with the fishing nets,” said the CEO of DP World K K Krishnadas.The Italian vessel ‘Enrica Lexie’ reached near a fishing boat on Wednesday. The security guards on board the vessel had shot the fishermen after they were suspected to be pirates, the reports by the Coast Guard said. The experts in the shipping sector say that the ships have a tendency to deviate from the designated routes for reasons related to the depth of the waters.“The ships may deviate from the designated channels into the Indian territorial waters if they get better depth. Moreover such deviations do not constitute violation of norms,” said Commodore Jose, an expert in Marine shipping.