CHENNAI: The State government on Friday in principle decided to extend the fishing ban period from 45 days to 61 days from this year.
At the stake-holders meetings held earlier, representatives from fishermen associations agreed to extend the fishing ban. So, the ban which began from April 15 will continue till June 15.
“A GO will be issued soon. Around 5,600 mechanised boats in the State cannot go for fishing during this period. However, non-motorised boats and FRB boats can go for fishing since they can go only up to three or four nautical miles,” official sources said and added that `5,000 would be paid to around 1.14 lakh marine fishermen families as financial assistance during the ban period.
In 2015, based on the recommendations of the technical committee of scientists from Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the Union Agriculture Ministry had resolved to increase the fishing ban period from 45-47 days to 61 days along both the eastern and western coasts of the country. It was decided that the ban would commence on April 15 on the eastern coast and on June 1 on the western coast.
However, the Centre gave a period of five years to State governments to promulgate the extended ban on their coasts. While states such as Odisha and West Bengal had already extended the fishing ban period, Tamil Nadu has decided to implement it from this year.
Meanwhile, Fisheries and Finance Minister D Jayakumar chaired a review meeting of Fisheries Department at the secretariat. The minister told Express that engaging the “mid-sea fish processing units-cum-carrier mother vessel” to encourage deep-sea fishing would be implemented from this year.
This ‘carrier mother vessel’ will have facilities like refrigerated sea water (RSW) system and refrigerated fish storage facility to store the fishes onboard. The mother vessel will act as a source of essential inputs for the ‘baby vessels’ involved in fishing in the deep sea and will also provide the service to transport the catch to the shore, thus reducing the operating cost of the fishing vessels towards frequent visits to the shore.
The fish will also be stored in good condition, aiding the fishermen in getting good price for their catch.
Walkie-talkies would be provided to 16,974 fishermen at a cost of `30 crore and a marine museum would be set up at Mahabalipuram at a cost of `250 crore, the minister added.