KOCHI: The Union government will consider providing financial assistance to fishing boats for installing Turtle Excluder Device (TED) in fishing nets, said Union Minister of State for Fisheries George Kurian.
“The Union government has decided to provide mobile satellite terminals to one lakh fishing vessels free of cost under the Pradhan Manthri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for emergency communication and tracking of the boats," the minister said.
The US law requires all shrimp trawlers to equip their fishing nets with TED to protect the endangered turtle species. To remove the ban we have to comply with the law. Our research institutions have developed a TED which has been cleared by the US regulatory agency. It will be cleared soon,” he said while addressing reporters in Kochi on Saturday.
George said India exports around Rs 40,000 crore worth shrimps and 90% of the aquaculture shrimp is exported to the USA. “The ban is only for wild caught shrimps and it can be removed once we comply with the US regulations. The Union government is ready to implement projects to promote aquaculture of shrimps in Kerala,” he added.
Refuting allegations that the Union budget did not offer any development project for Kerala, George Kurian said the Centre was ready to support any development project put forth by the state.