The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has offered to rework the report by the Syda Rao Technical Committee which reviewed the duration of the marine fishing ban period in the country to suggest measures to strengthen conservation and management.
The institute is learnt to have found some flaws in the report.
The key issue that has come under scrutiny is the timing of the ban and not the duration, sources said.
The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, under the Union Ministry of Agriculture, has issued an order imposing uniform ban on fishing for 61 days based on the technical committee report.
According to the order, the fishing ban off the west coast is between June 1 and July 31 and off the east coast between April 15 and June 14. The ban is for the current year and applicable to all types of vessels beyond the Indian territorial waters. It is the first time that marine fishery in Kerala has come under a blanket 61-day ban. At present, the ban is on trawling and purseiners for a period of 47 days between June 15 and July 31. The Union government order on the 61-day ban has come under fire from fishermen and boat operators in the State.
When the issue of the ban was brought up at a press conference here on Saturday, CMFRI director A. Gopalakrishnan said that the order on the fishing ban came even as the institute had communicated with the Ministry on the Syda Rao panel report. The institute was in touch with the Ministry, he said.
The Centre’s order for 61-day ban on fishing has come under fire from fishermen
