With ban period ending, coastal areas set to brim with fishing activity

Fisheries Department officials said the ban from April 15 to June 14 midnight, enforced by the State government from Tiruvallur district in the north to Kanniyakumari district in the south, under the provisions of Deep Sea Fishing Regulation Act, 2001 was to facilitate breeding of fishes and conservation of fish stock in marine ecology in the south east region. However, conventional fishing using country boats is exempted from the ban order. As a result, around 5,262 mechanised fishing trawlers did not venture into the sea for fishing during the ban period.

During the ban period, the fishermen carried out maintenance works on the trawlers and engaged themselves in repairing the fishing nets.

P Sesu Raja, Ramanathapuram District Secretary of Tamil Nadu Mechanised Boat Fishermen Association, said the boat owners had spent a minimum of Rs 2 lakh each to refurbish trawlers and purchase new nets.

Meanwhile, the fishing jetties in the coastal districts witnessed a buzz of activity ahead of the beginning of the new fishing season, as many fish merchants and agents have started assembling to purchase the marine species, while seafood export companies opened their fish collection centres to buy export-quality marine cache from the fishermen.

As the fishing ban was implemented effectively, the fishermen were hoping for a good catch this year. The prices of fishes, prawns and crabs that soared high during the fishing ban is expected to come down significantly.

E Kathavarayan, Deputy Director of Fisheries, Ramanathapuram, said the fishermen of Ramanathapuram,Pudukkottai, Nagapattinam and Karaikkal in Puducherry were advised not to cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) to prevent incarceration by the Sri Lankan Navy. Similarly, the fishermen were cautioned by Fisheries department against venturing into the sea ahead of the end of the ban period and without obtaining fishing permits. They were supposed to set out for fishing after obtaining permits issued by the Fisheries department officials after 5.30 am on Saturday, but most of them were ready to set sail a few hours ahead.

Stern action would be initiated against those flouting the norms. The boats will be impounded, Kathavarayan warned.

With the annual fishing ban coming to an end, fishermen in Puducherry are preparing to venture into the sea from today.

They repaired their boats, nets and other equipment during the ban period. Fisheries Minister Malladi Krishna Rao on Friday distributed the financial assistance of Rs 5,500 each to the fishermen families for the ban period. He disbursed over Rs 10.60 crore to the 19,290 fishermen families.