The Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) has launched a new financial assistance scheme to enhance fishing industry by way of technological upgradation and modernization of marine fishing boats in the country.
Under this new financial assistance scheme, the mechanized fishing vessels would be helped financially by the MPEDA for the installation of insulated or refrigerated fish hold, refrigerated sea water system and ice making machinery on board to the fishing boats.
‘‘The procurement and installation charges would come up to Rs 30 to 40 lakh for a mechanized fishing boat and MPEDA would provide a subsidy of Rs 5 lakh or 30 percent whichever is less of the capital cost incurred for the installation’’, said N Chandrasekharan, assistant director of MPEDA, sub-regional office, Thoothukudi.
To avail the subsidy benefits, the mechanized fishing boats should not be more than 20 meters of length and the age of the boat must be within 12 years, he further said.
The assistant director said that if the age of the mechanized boat exceeds 12 years, the owner of the boat should produce a certificate from the Marine Mercantile Department (MMD) or from the Indian Registrar of Shipping indicating that the future economic life of the fishing vessel would be of minimum 5 years and added that it would not be considered for rebuilt fishing vessels.
The junior technical officer (Quality Control), MPEDA, S Ashok Kumar said that the installation of the instruments in the fishing vessels would help preserve the freshness of the catch like ‘tuna’ fish, which is said to be highly priced in
‘‘The fishermen can opt for multi-day fishing if their boats are equipped with these instruments,’’ said the technical officer, adding that the scheme had been launched in the last week of December in all the coastal states in the country.
Training programs to create awareness about the scheme among the mechanized fishing boat owners will be organized from this month onwards in Thoothukudi, Veerapandipattinam, Colachel, Kanyakumari and Mandapam in Ramanathapuram district. However if the fishermen in the four coastal districts of Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari approach the sub-regional office of MPEDA, Thoothukudi through their associations, training programs would be constituted in their place.
Hence, the assistant director said, interested fishing vessel owners and associations can submit the prescribed application forms to the sub-regional office along with the copy of MPEDA registration certificate of the fishing vessel, pro forma invoice for the equipment proposed to be installed, documents to prove the age and future economic life of the fishing boat.
Officers from MPEDA sub-regional office would verify the documents by inspecting the vessel and forwarded the verification report to the head office in
The assistant director further said that about 100 mechanized fishing in Thoothukudi district had been registered with MPEDA.