Special committee to review report on wave disturbances

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government has constituted a five-member committee to review the report on wave disturbances around Vizhinjam harbour.
The committee will have secretary of the department of ports as the chairperson and managing director and CEO of Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL) as the convener. Other members include chief engineer of harbour engineering department, CEO of Kerala maritime board and director of fisheries.
Fishermen who operate from Vizhinjam harbour had raised concerns on wave disturbances and tranquillity issues at the entrance and within the existing fishing harbour.
According to the fisherfolk, this was due to the ongoing construction works at the port.
VISL had then entrusted the central water and power research station (CWPRS), Pune, to undertake a physical wave model study to assess the impact, if any, due to the work on the Vizhinjam international multipurpose seaport to the existing harbour at Vizhinjam.
The study by CWPRS is still in progress. The committee constituted by the government will review the report of the physical wave model study.
As per the half-yearly compliance report between October 2017 and March 2018 on Vizhinjam project pertaining to environmental impact and status of mitigation measures, detailed modelling studies were carried out on tranquillity conditions in the fishing harbour with the port development.
The studies revealed that the tranquillity conditions would be improved in fishing harbour with the construction of the port and that further minor accretion happening within the harbour would be arrested, the report has pointed out.
The report also cited that the progress of the fishery berth was affected by the fact that fishing boats were docked in the proposed area.
In May, three fishermen drowned as six fishing boats capsized off Vizhinjam coast. The fishermen had said that the small fishing boats which went from Poonthura and Vizhinjam met with the accident due to strong winds and heavy shower. Owing to the bad weather, some of the boats soon returned to the shore. There was a dangerous channel near the harbour where boats were lashed by strong waves and that’s where the accident occurred, they had said.
The families of fishermen had raised concerns over the manner in which the ships capsized close to the harbour.
According to them, they had never encountered such high waves in that channel close to the harbour and this was the reason why many boats were caught in the strong waves in the channel.