The Fisheries department in Nagapattinam has issued orders to 26 out of 50 applicants for construction of boats for deep sea fishing under the Blue Revolution scheme of the Central government.
In the first phase, fishers whose trawlers were confiscated by Sri Lanka and those using retrieved boats in a damaged condition have been chosen as beneficiaries. The rest of the applicants in the category will be extended the benefit of the scheme in the next phase, a senior official said.
An applicant is required to invest ₹8 lakh under the scheme to construct the long-liner. The total cost of ₹80 lakh will be met through bank loan of ₹16 lakh and subsidy component of the Central (50%) and State (20%) governments. Ten per cent is contributed by the fishermen and the bank loan accounts for the remaining 20%.
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Last year, the State government entrusted the Cochin shipyard with building 16 tuna long-liner cum gillnetter fishing vessels. The vessels are equipped with modern navigation equipment and advanced net hauling and liner winches, besides galleys, bio-toilet, refrigerated sea water system and PUF (polyurethane foam) insulated stainless steel cladded fish hold to preserve the fish catch.
The purpose of the deep sea fishing scheme is to wean away fishers from bottom trawling, an ecologically destructive practice of dragging weighted nets along the sea-floor causing great depletion of aquatic resources. The practice of bottom trawling beyond maritime boundary has been the cause of arrest of fishermen from Tamil Nadu by Lankan Navy.
The project envisages conversion of 2,000 trawlers in the State into deep sea fishing boats at a cost of ₹1,600 crore. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rameswaram in July 2017.
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