Repeated incidents of trawler mishaps in the Sunderbans has brought the design of vessels under the scanner and the state government has decided to come up with a boat model that will help in better navigation on rivers and sea in Bengal.

In the past few years, over 100 fishermen lost their lives with the latest accident happening in the Bay of Bengal off Frazerganj in South 24-Parganas on Wednesday claiming 10 lives.

While trying to find out the reason for Wednesday morning’s mishap, officials of the state fisheries department at a meeting with fishermen’s organisations zeroed in on the navigation problem that vessels with a distinct V-shape at the bottom faced while moving through highly-silted coastal channels of Bay of Bengal.

While the fishermen’s organisations have appealed to the state government for clearing the silted channel where their trawlers often get trapped or capsized after hitting the submerged alluvial land, the Bengal government has been considering to write to the Cochin-based Central Institute of Fisheries Technologies (CIFT) to design a new model of fishing boat that can navigate better on rivers and sea in Bengal.

“Silted stretches of rivers and sea channels have emerged as a major problem for fishermen. Our officials have also realised the problem. We will have a thorough discussion on the issue at a meeting to be held at the district magistrate’s office on July 22. The issue of writing to the Central Institute of Fisheries Technologies will also be finalised there,” fisheries minister Akhil Giri told The Telegraph.

Sources said during the initial discussion at the Namkhana BDO office, senior officials of the fisheries department pointed out that boats from South 24-Parganas are mostly V-shaped at the bottom, whereas fishermen in Digha-Sankarpur use vessels that tend to get oval at the bottom.

“The coastal areas of the Sunderbans and Digha are different with sea channels in South 24-Parganas distinctly narrower than those in East Midnapore. This creates problems for trawlers and the distinct V-shape at the bottom gets easily stuck in the silt. Boats with an oval shape at the bottom glide over depleted water zones without getting stuck in the silt. This is the reason why the number of boats capsizing in East Midnapore is far less than those on South 24-Parganas,” said assistant director of fisheries (marine) Jayanta Kumar Pradhan.

Sources said in the past five years, 35 boats that had sailed from South 24-Parganas capsized killing 125 fishermen. During the same time, the corresponding figure of boat accidents in East Midnapore is five and nine people have lost their lives.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Giri said: “The V-shaped boats are basically model popular in Bangladesh where the problem of navigation is less. Officials of our department had discouraged fishermen from using V-shaped boats, but higher manufacturing costs of oval shaped boats came in the way.”

“We have over 10,000 fishing boats in operation in South 24-Parganas. So even if the new model is introduced, it will be difficult to replace the old V-shaped boats overnight. We will discuss with the CIFT to propose a more financially viable trawler model for fishermen in the region,” Giri added.

Members of West Bengal United Fishermen’s Association, who have been invited to attend the July 22 meeting, have welcomed the government's initiative.

Sources in the fisheries department said a few years ago they had written to the CIFT for a new model for Bengal fishermen, but the endeavour did not materialise.

Baiju M.V, a senior scientist at Kerala’s CIFT and an expert in marine fishing technology, however, reiterated the “stability” features of boats.

“Fishing boat making requires expertise. It is not an easy job. Unfortunately, the stability features of the boat often gets ignored in the unorganised fishing sector. Stability is the basic safety aspect of a fishing boat,” Baiju told The Telegraph over phone.

Apart from navigation issues, the government is considering training trawler operators. Officials said when driving an auto required a license, trawler operators should be imparted training. This, an official said, would help bring down incidents of trawler mishaps.

“After a spate of boat capsizing incidents, the Bengal government had in 2018 formulated guidelines for trawlers and fishermen on following safe shipping routes. But errant fishermen often flout the guidelines leading to mishaps. The guidelines need to be implemented properly,” the official added.