Bloom of 'red tide' disrupts lives of Kerala's fishermen

Published: 2004-09-23

TRIVANDRUM, India (CNS) -- A bloom of red tide is disrupting the lives of fishermen, many of them Catholics, on a coastal stretch in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Since Sept. 17, hundreds of people, mostly children, have been hospitalized after collapsing from a nauseating stench wafting in from the ocean, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Thousands of rotting fish have been floating on the sea near the state capital of Trivandrum. But the phenomenon that killed them, a mass of quick-multiplying algae called a red tide, also produces noxious gas emissions. The result has been panic that has affected thousands of Catholics along 10 miles of coastline in the Archdiocese of Trivandrum. "Now nobody is buying fish. They think the fish is poisonous," said Philomina John, a fish vendor in the state capital. Valiyathura, the biggest fishing village in the area, has about 5,000 Catholic families who survive solely on fishing and related businesses. Fishermen said they face starvation because the red tide has cut off their source of food and livelihood.

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