Absence of fishing operations on the sea is a question of survival for hundreds of boatmen and workers. Many families even had to sell the stored fish to run the house for the past one week. Fish is stored for preparing ‘dry fish’. Barely hours after the cyclone Lehar weakened, Gilakaladindi Habour and its surroundings witnessed a flurry of activity in preparation of resuming fishing.
Uploading ice into the boats, filling up the diesel oil tanks to make sure the voyage will last over a week, was the common sight at the Gilakaladindi village on Friday. The womenfolk have all set out to thank the almighty, by offering special pujas to the sea before their men kick-start their lifeline activity from Sunday.
The characteristics of the sea water will change following the recent disturbing weather conditions. “The prevailing sea conditions are likely to be favourable to everyone, be it men on the mechanised boats or the country boats. Hopes are on the Sunday voyage,” boat operators told The Hindu . Many country boat operators tried their luck on the blue waters on Friday. The fishermen community expects to return with bountiful of catch in their voyage starting Sunday bringing a smile on their faces, and a handsome income for their families.
Back to normal
Other coastal areas in Krishna district limped back to normal. All the relief centres in the seven coastal mandals and in Machilipatnam town wore a deserted look as people returned home before the sunrise.
The total rainfall was recorded at 532 mm since the deep depression closed on Machilipatnam. Krishna district official preliminary estimations put the paddy crop loss at 1.5 lakh acres during the recent cyclones – Phailin and Lehar.
However, the Agriculture Department staff in collaboration with the Revenue Department began the crop enumeration from Friday across the district. All the rescue teams, which reached the Krishna district on Wednesday, returned, as there was no impact of the deep depression on the communication systems and roads.
Marine Products Exports Development Authority officials at the Gilakaladindi Harbour on Friday said that the fishing would resume from Sunday, a week after the ban on venture into the rough sea.
