Minister for Fisheries, Sports and Youth Services K. Abhayachandra Jain said on Friday that the government would be banning ‘bull-trawling’ by deep sea trawlers in all three coastal districts of the State in the next 15 days. (Bull trawling a net is spread between two deep sea trawlers on either side to catch fish. The trawlers generally return with a huge fish catch).
Speaking to presspersons after laying the foundation stone for the guide-wall for the Alivegadde fisheries jetty, which would be built at a cost of Rs. 9.8 crore,
Mr. Jain said that there were a lot of complaints from the country boat fishermen that their fish catch was declining drastically due to bull-trawling by the deep sea trawlers. As per law, deep sea trawlers cannot indulge in bull-trawling.
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The ban will apply to all the coastal districts. He had already held a meeting on this issue with the Higher Education and Uttara Kannada District In-charge Minister on this issue, he said.
Fisheries harbour
Mr. Jain said that the government would provide Rs. 33 crore for the second phase of construction of the Koderi fisheries harbour.
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The Finance Department had already given its nod to allocate Rs. 33 crore for this purpose. Only an approval from the State Cabinet was needed, which was expected in a two weeks.
Already an amount of Rs. 33 crore had been spent for the construction of the first phase of the Koderi harbour.
The Centre had already sanctioned Rs. 102 crore for the construction of a fisheries harbour at Gangolli.
The construction work was already under progress there. The government had allocated Rs. 30 crore for the development of roads belonging to the Department of Fisheries in the three coastal districts.
A similar amount was expected from NABARD for the development of these roads.
The State government had increased the allocation for housing for fishermen from Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 1.2 lakh per house, Mr. Jain said.
Road repair works
Vinay Kumar Sorake, Urban Development Minister, said that an amount of Rs. 2.5 crore had been sanctioned for the repair of the Udupi-Karkala Road, which was badly damaged due to heavy rains. The repair works had already started, he said.
Gopal Poojary, Byndoor MLA, said that he would urge the State government to allocate more funds in the next budget to provide additional facilities at the Alvegadde fisheries jetty.
An amount of Rs. 84 lakh had been sanctioned by the Union government for the repair work of the badly damaged stretches of National Highway 66 from Shiroor to Kundapur.
More funds were expected from the Central Road Fund for the repair of the highway, he said.