The Centre is bringing out a policy to encourage group fishing by fishermen’s groups after cancelling permissions given to foreign fishing vessels to fish in India’s exclusive economic zone, said Praveen Puthran, Assistant Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), on Friday.
He was speaking after inaugurating a stakeholders’ meeting organised by Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), a constituent of ICAR here. Tamil Nadu was the first State to get benefits of the new scheme where fishermen have formed groups to avail benefits of the scheme including subsidies to buy large vessels, he said.
While it was being said that marine fishing has reached saturation levels, there was still scope for controlled fishing.
On the other hand, there was huge potential in cage fishing in the marine environment for which the government was giving huge subsidies, Mr. Puthran said.
The ADG said value addition to fish catch and other marine produce would go a long way in doubling farming income, a pet plan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rules and regulations are framed for their own benefit so that marine wealth lasts for generations. While enforcement on high seas was near impossible, fishermen should adopt self regulation as to the size of the catch and other issues, Mr. Puthran said.
Gopalakrishnan, Director, CMFRI, Kochi, said based on the institutes’s recommendations, the governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, etc., have notified legal permissible size of fish species that could be caught. The institute with 11 research centres across the country, was continuously working on improving the fishing sector, he said.
Mr. Gopalakrishnan said there was fluctuation in fish landing across the country since 2017, mainly because of increase in sea surface temperature. This temporary phenomenon, a short-term prediction, would continue this year too.
