Annual ban on deep sea fishing begins from Friday

Annual ban on deep sea fishing begins from Friday

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, June 14, 2012 : The annual ban on deep sea fishing on traditional and motor boats with 10 HP engines will be enforced from Friday and those who violate this ban will lose their right to subsidy on diesel and concession on central excise.

 

 

 

This annual ban is imposed during the fish breeding season and lasts for 57 days. This year, it will come to an end on August 10. Meanwhile, the city will receive its supply of fish from the east coast, especially Chennai. In Andhra Pradesh, fishing ban is imposed in April and May.

Fishermen have already begun returning their long-liners, trawlers, and other motor boats to the shore and anchoring them in fishing ports. During the ban, fishermen usually get busy with traditional fishing, which will allow them to survive for 30 days. They venture just 4 – 5 nautical miles into the sea and cash fish using traditional methods. Some of them go fishing in rivers and lakes. According to the Coastal Fishing (Regulation) Act of 1986, the ban has been imposed on Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi.

Sources in the fisheries department said that those fishermen who run in disasters or meet with fishing accidents after violating the ban will not be considered eligible for compensation or relief from the government. Owing to the ban, prices of fish have begun rising in Mangalore.

Vasudev Boloor, leader of the fishing community, said that there are 129 unorganized sectors in India under the Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act of 2008. Since 93 percent of labourers are unorganized, the state government offers then benefits in the form of pension and insurance. He said that fishermen will be relieved if all these benefits reach them.

Speaking about fishermen’s problems, he said that fishermen do not have ample space to anchor their boats and the jetty expansion project has been pending for the past several years. He said that the Mangalore Old Port has space to anchor 700 motor boats, but according to records, there are 1005 trawlers and 65 purse seine boats.