5,000 Kumari fishermen keep off sea after IMD’s depression alert

Based on the warning, the State Fisheries Department officials advised the boat operators not to engage in fishing.

There are around 1,000 mechanised boats and 4,000 country boats in the district. The officials said a decision would be made whether to permit fishing today keeping in mind the weather update.

According to the IMD, a depression currently centred about 140 km west northwest of Port Blair (Andaman Islands) is very likely to intensify into a deep depression by today and may subsequently develop into a cyclonic storm.

Further, the weather system is predicted to move towards north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast during the subsequent 72 hours.

However, fishing remained mostly unaffected off the Ramanathapuram coast. When contacted, Regional Deputy Director of Fisheries (Ramanathapuram) E Kathavarayan said a majority of the around 5,500 boats were out in the sea.

“Unlike other coastal districts, mechanised and country boats here are being allowed for a period of three and four days in a week respectively,” he said.

“Weather bulletins will be updated every eight hours. If the sea turns rough, fishing would be restricted, and permit tokens would not be given to boat operators,” Kathavarayan said.

Considering the weather condition, the Fisheries Department has advised fishermen belonging to Thoothukudi district not to venture into sea.

Antony Panneerdoss, who hails from Tharuvaikulam in Thoothukudi district, said 30 mechanised boats set out to sea on Saturday. “I am not sure whether the fishermen onboard have been informed about the weather alert. However, most of them have smart phones and use it to access ‘wind map’ to know about the wind patterns. They will act accordingly,” he said.