Support For Fishing Families During Fishing Ban ff

Source: IBN Live

Price of Sea-food in the State is all set to go up as the 45-day fishing ban comes into effect from Saturday midnight to facilitate spawning.

The prices of the most sought after species prawn (tiger, golden & white) and tuna would witness a rise of over 100 percent in the coming days.

Though the ban is not applicable to manual fishing boats (fiber boats and catamaran), the catch will come down to the level of kilograms from tons which would lead to the price rise.

Besides prawn and tuna, the most desired varieties including seer, pomfret, trevally, shark, and red-snapper will also witness a steep price rise.

At present, the State provides Rs 2,000 per fishermen family as relief to the fishing ban period which gets over on May 31. It was enhanced to Rs 2,000 soon after AIADMK came to power last year as per its poll promise.

Speaking to Express, South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association president K Bharathi said that there were around 10,000 trawlers involved in fishing in the State which would remain anchored for the next 45 days.

“In Chennai alone,1200 trawlers will be anchored due to this ban. It would affect, across the State, livelihood of five lakh fishermen families involved in the business”, he said. He added that the prices would rise by Rs 250 to Rs 300 per kilogram of the favored varieties.

On the ban, he said that it had been imposed with the good intentions of facilitating spawning.

Chemical industries in the coast and the thermal power plants were polluting the sea and these institutions should be prevented from releasing their waste into the sea at least during this season, he suggested. “Not just the ban would help improve the marine life, but the fisheries department will have to take a series of measures. Coral reefs which are instrumental in spawning were washed away to a large extent during Tsunami. Setting up of artificial coral reefs through MP funds in each coastal district can boost spawning”, he observed.