The Tamil Nadu government is keen that the proposed deep-sea fishing project should start yielding benefits to fishermen during this financial year (2017-18).
Even as it awaits the full details of the Centre’s approval of its deep-sea fishing project, the State government has drawn up broad plans for its implementation. The project was submitted to the Centre nearly four years ago when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister.
As per the project, 2,000 deep-sea fishing boats with long lines and gill nets will replace trawlers in three years. Initially, 500 such boats will be given. “Normally, the production of deep-sea fishing boats takes nine months. But, our idea is to compress the period into six months so that we can hand over at least 100 boats, this year itself,” said an official of the Fisheries Department.
Pointing out that the State has the capacity to produce the boats, the official said currently, there are 6,500 boats in the State, and all of them were manufactured locally. “We need to engage the private sector in a big way for the project,” the official said, adding that the entire coastal belt of the State, spread over 1,016 km, is full of facilities to produce the deep-sea boats.
Motivating fishermen
Conscious of the fact that it is the Ramanathapuram fishermen who are invariably affected because of the Palk Bay fishing dispute, the government is hoping to motivate all of them to migrate to the new practice.
Of about 3,600 vessels engaged in fishing in the Palk Bay region, Ramanathapuram accounts for about 1,730 boats.
To make things easier for the fishermen, the authorities have proposed to have a fish landing facility in Kunthukal, near Pamban, at a cost ₹60 crore, and a ₹114-crore fishing harbour in Mookkaiyur, near Sayalkudi, both located in the district.
Work on the fishing harbour has commenced, the official said.
Meanwhile, fishermen of the district, while welcoming the development, felt that the authorities must ensure remunerative returns for their catch.
“We have good fishing grounds where fishermen from Kerala stay for 3 - 4 days and catch fish. But they have good export houses and processing facilities that buy their catch for good rates. Here, the prawn we catch goes to Tuticorin and we have no say in the prices,” said R. Arogyadas, a fisherman from Pamban.
Fredrick Nathan of Thangachimadam, who was once caught by the Sri Lankan Navy, said without the right kind of training, subsidies to buy boats alone would serve no purpose.
