Visakhapatnam: Fishing comes to halt for 61-days in State from today

Visakhapatnam: In a bid to protect fisheries during the marine breeding season, the 61-day-long annual ban comes into effect from April 15 in the state. Even as the state government is providing Rs 10,000 as financial support for the fishermen to make do for the banned period enforced by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairy, the community finds the sailing hard for the next two months.

In Visakhapatnam alone, close to 29,000 people are dependent on fishing for their livelihood. Except the traditional fishing, mechanised and motorised boats will stay away from fishing till June 14.

However, according to the records, only 20,000 fishermen have been registered to receive the government grant during the ban. The exercise of enumeration will begin on April 19. "A list of beneficiaries will be readied by April 25. On submission of the details such as Aadhaar card, ration card, bank account and boat owner's certificate, the amount will be directly deposited to their bank accounts after verification," explains P Lakshman Rao, Deputy Director of Fisheries.

Before bringing out the final list, objections for the enumeration will be accepted for three days. "For transparency, the final list will be uploaded in an App," adds the Deputy Director of Fisheries.

The boats will be anchored at the harbour from April 15 midnight. According to a survey, there are as many as 739 upgraded vessels and 3,400 engine boats in Visakhapatnam. Meanwhile, traditional boats sum up to 1,000.

With the motorised boats coming to a halt from Thursday midnight, the fishermen association representatives rue that the ban is going to worsen their situation further as they have already been hit by the pandemic-induced loss and rise in fuel prices.