KENDRAPARA: The Fisheries department has decided to provide an annual compensation of Rs 15,000 each to marine fishermen of Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur who will be affected by the 60-day fishing ban in the sea during the breeding season of fish. The assistance will benefit around 15,000 fishermen of the two districts.
Assistant fisheries officer of Paradip Bijay Kar on Friday said in a bid to conserve fish stock at sea during the breeding season, the state government has imposed restrictions on fishing by mechanised vessels from April 15 to June 15.
To mitigate the plight of fishermen during the 60-day ban period, the Fisheries department has decided to provide Rs 15,000 compensation to each of the 15,000 fishermen of both the districts. The compensation amount will be disbursed to the fishermen soon.
Kar informed that the ban extends to 12 nautical miles off the Odisha coast. It aims at conserving fish species during the monsoon, which is the spawning season for many varieties of fish including shrimp.
To avoid disturbances caused by trawl fishing during the breeding season, the fishermen have been instructed not to venture into the sea during the ban period under section 4 of Odisha Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982.
He further said during the ban period, all mechanised fishing vessels including trawlers will not be allowed to venture into sea. Small mechanised and non-mechanised boats less than 8.5-metre-long, using nets with big gaps, are exempted from the ban. Traditional fishermen have also been exempted from the fishing ban. However, they are permitted to carry out fishing in territorial waters and catch only pelagic fish.
The trawling ban was introduced in 1998 to help unhindered breeding of fish during the rainy season in the sea. The monsoon is the breeding season of nearly 300 species of fish including the delicious Hilsa along the coast of Odisha. The fishing ban will help save the mother fish as well as the young ones, thus avoiding the depletion of fisheries resources, Kar added.