Mangalore, September 15: The boat tragedy at Old Port Estuary mouth on Tuesday, where five persons were injured, is not the first of its kind this year. It's the third such incident where boats got stuck in the sand bar, but none were injured in the previous cases.
"The problem is mainly due to crumbling Kotepura-Ullal South Breakwater structure erected 18 years ago," says fisheries department deputy director Suresh Kumar Ullal. The North breakwater at Thota Bengre is 200m from the south breakwater. Breakwaters are constructed to protect an anchorage from the effects of ill weather and long shore drift.
He said, "The Rs 200-crore ADB-funded project to repair and extend the two breakwaters from 300m to 400m should solve the problem of sand accretion at the estuary mouth. The project is yet to commence."
The problem exists only in September and October due to the South Westerly winds depositing sands. They get dispersed during Easterly winds, which start October end.
Fishermen leader Umesh Karkera alleges dams in the upper reaches of Nethravathi river such as Thumbe, AMR and MRPL has reduced water inflow to the sea, thus, leading to accumulation of sand and narrowing the gap for boat movement to the sea for fishing.
Suresh Kumar begs to differ saying when the dams did not exist the estuary mouth was rougher than this. "The breakwaters have eased the problem. The problem cropped up as the breakwaters were not maintained," he adds.
Usually, the 200-m-wide estuary mouth allows 15 boats to go side by side in to the sea, but during these two months, a boat can only behind another one. Karkera also alleges the dredging done in January this year was not scientific. Sources say dredging was done according to fishermen leaders' satisfaction and under their supervision.
Dredging operation is a costly affair and owning a dredger is prohibitive. Even the New Mangalore Port (NMP) does not have its own dredger. NMP officials say it requires skilled manpower and lot of maintenance. Fifteen years ago, NMP had its own dredger and as it was not economical, it was disposed of.
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