The Wood Biodegradation Centre (Marine) of the Institute of Wood Science and Technology here under the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, is focussing on new research projects to curb decay of wood used in making cataramans and other traditional fishing craft and to find alternative timbers for the purpose, according to Dr. S.C Joshi, Director.
In an interview, Dr Joshi, on a visit to the centre, said here on Thursday that the institute was based at Bangalore and Wood Biodegradation Centre here was the only one of its kind in the country.
He said the country possessed 200 deep-sea fishing trawlers (mainly made of steel) and 3,14,250 other fishing craft mainly made of wood.
Dr Joshi said that economically the costs were huge. The timber decay accounted for Rs 11 crore a year, but the maintenance costs of ships, wooden boats and coastal installations amounted to more than Rs 800 crore a year.
Catamarans made of untreated light wood get destroyed in seawater within short periods ranging from six months to one year and the institute had come up with catamatarans made of alternative timbers after chemical processing.
These catamarans were distributed to fishermen in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the life of the craft could be enhanced six-fold. So far, he said, 250 such catamarans had been distributed.Biodegradation studies at Andaman and Nicobar islands and Lakshadweep were also being conducted with multi-location trials.
The centre here would also sign a memorandum of understanding with Andhra University for carrying out research and for teaching wood science.
Dr. Joshi said the institute would strive to make traditional fishing more remunerative by its research projects.
“Though we have also done some research projects for the paper industry, our main focus will be on the traditional sectors,” he added.