Awareness drive for fishers to be launched

Postgraduates from fishing villages to be trained for role of motivators

A State-wide drive to sensitise the fishing community to the welfare programmes of the government will be launched by a team of professional “motivators” in 222 fishing villages. In Kozhikode district, the scheme will cover 34 fishing villages. Of the estimated one million fishers, hardly half of them care to make use of the welfare schemes and vocational support, officials say.

Fisheries Minister J. Mercykkutty Amma said her department was bolstering its technical wing for the successful implementation of the projects. “In the first phase, we will strive to form 100 more inland fishing villages in Kerala. The appointment of motivators will be the immediate priority,” she told The Hindu on Saturday.

Seven specific areas

A senior fisheries department officer said the proposed mobilisation programme would lay stress on educating the community on seven specific areas covering the fishermen housing schemes, concessional education for children, saving-cum-relief schemes, insurance for traditional fishing implements, pension schemes, group insurance projects for allied fish workers and modernisation of the country craft. Educating women and children on the schemes would be the first priority, he said.

The plan of the fisheries department is to select at least one postgraduate from each fishing village in Kerala and appoint them as official “motivators” on a contract basis to carry out the field-level awareness programmes. Preference will be given to postgraduates in social work who hail from fishermen families. The department hopes that motivators from the fishermen families will be able to communicate better with their members and train them to apply for various schemes.

On the field, they will be handling the awareness programmes for boat owners as well as the newer colour coding system.