THOOTHUKUDI: The Fisheries department is mulling action against 26 mechanised fishing vessels that did not report to the annual verification. Also, 62 unregistered mechanised bottom trawlers too are set to face official action in this regard. Among the 26 mechanised vessels that didn’t report six were from the Vembar fishing harbour and the remaining from the Thoothukudi fishing harbour. Officials managed to survey 494 vessels out of the 521 registered with the fisheries department.
“Either the vessels might have been sold out or transferred to other fishing harbours,” said a senior fisheries official. A show-cause notice will be issued to the owners of the vessel for explanation before annulling the registration,” he added.
The district administration conducted annual verification of mechanised fishing vessels on May 26. Fourteen teams of officials verified the registration of such vessels operated in Thoothukudi district. The district has 521 registered mechanised fishing vessels operative in three fishing harbours of Thoothukudi, Tharuvaikulam, and Vembar. While Tharuvaikulam fishing has nearly 240 gill-net mechanised fishing vessels, the two other harbours operate bottom trawlers.
Fisheries officials checked the dimensions of the vessels, engine capacity, fishing licence, subsidised diesel authorisation, and other related documents. The survey had also exposed 62 unregistered bottom trawlers in Thoothukudi fishing harbour. These were built in contravention of the measurement of the length and engine capacity authorised by the Tamil Nadu Marine Fishing Regulations Act (TNMFRA).
“The TNMFRA permits only 24-metere-long vessels and an engine capacity of 240 Horsepower. The 62 trawlers are not registered with the fisheries department and have no license for fishing activity,” a senior official said.
The official added that these oversized mechanised fishing vessels come under the Merchant Shipping Act, and should be registered by the Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) functioning under the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Since the state government can not register them, no fishing licences were issued to them, he stated.
