Mechanised boat fishermen seek hike in ban period assistance

MADURAI: With the 61-day annual deep sea fishing ban beginning from April 15 along the East coast of Tamil Nadu, several fishermen of Thoothukudi and its neighbouring coastal district of Ramanathapuram demanded early settlement of the ban period relief assistance.

They said many fishermen relying on mechanised boats have no alternate source of livelihood. M. Tharmapichai, vice president, of Thoothukudi Mechanized Boat Fishermen Association, on Saturday sought the state government to increase the ban period assistance to Rs 10,000 from Rs 6,000 to every family of the mechanised boat fishermen.

Further, he said while the ban is only applicable to mechanised boat fishermen, the government should only consider those fishermen and provide lean period assistance. He said it was unjust that the same assistance was also being given to the country boat fishermen, who were allowed to fish as usual, during this ban period.

Now, country boats unlike in those days have been equipped with high-powered motorised engines on par with mechanized boats and also engage in deep-sea fishing. Citing these, he said only for the sake of getting votes from the entire fisher community, such ban period assistance is also being extended to the country craft fishermen.