NAGAPATTINAM: The months-long wait of mechanised boat fishers finally comes to an end with the Central government’s announcement to lift the annual fishing ban on May 31. This would allow fishers in the East Coast states, including TN, to venture into the sea at least 14 days in advance.
GS Sameeran, Director of Fisheries, told TNIE, “We are glad to announce that the Centre has taken our representations into consideration and is lifting the ban on May 31. We are yet to arrive on the measures to be taken such as number of fishers, etc. We will soon come up with the guidelines.”
Over 4,000 mechanised boats, including conventional steel boats, trawlers and deep-sea boats in Tamil Nadu will be allowed into the sea after May 31. Over 50,000 fishers who used to fish on those vessels will restart fishing. It includes around 1,000 mechanised boats and 10,000 fishers in Nagapattinam district. The uplift of ban applies to other states such as Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. The order was passed by Dr Sanjay Pandey, Assistant Commissioner of Fisheries in the Ministry of Fisheries.
Appeal to advance the ban
The fisheries department had proposed to advance the fishing ban from March 23 to May 23. It usually starts on April 15 and ends on June 15. “The ban lift will not be applicable in places such as containment zones. We would take a call about when the fishers from those places can go,” added GS Sameeran. The fibreglass boat fishers are already fishing as they are exempted from the fishing ban.
Meanwhile, the Centre has also announced to ban fishing using mechanised boats in West coast states such as Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat from June 15 to July 31, which is the same 47-days.