As the traditional fishing ban period during the breeding season is set to begin on Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu government has issued an order to the District Collectors of coastal regions to allow fishing by traditional and small motorised boats from Wednesday, upto 5 nautical miles into the sea. A statement issued by the Department of Fisheries on Tuesday said, “In major fishing harbours and fish landing centres where congregation of boats are higher, a maximum of 300 motorised boats only will be allowed.”
However, larger mechanised boats with more than 10 horsepower motor capacity will not be allowed in for the next 60 days, as is the norm during the monsoon season. There is a ban on fishing during the breeding season, between April 15 and June 15 every year.
To stop the spread of the virus, the Fisheries Department said, fishing would be allowed on a rotational basis wherein a fishing village would be allowed into the sea only on alternative days. The number of fishing boats that can venture into the sea for fishing would be decided by the Crisis Management Committees in consultation with the stakeholders and Fisheries Department officials, it said.
The Fisheries Department has directed field officials to allow fishing with minimum crew members, preferably from the same family. The department has also banned auctioning of fish in fishing harbours, fish landing centres and fishing points. Only 50% of the fishing village in a district and only 50% of operational motorised and traditional boats in the village would be allowed for fishing in a day.
According to the Fisheries Department, the owners of the vessels should ensure arrangement of all protective gears, including masks to avoid the spread of COVID-19, for crew members. The crew members were also advised to wear masks while venturing into the sea.
Welcoming the statement, K Bharathi, President, South Indian Fisheries Welfare Association said, “We are not asking the government to allow us daily so we don’t have the problem with the condition. We request the help of the government to provide us with volunteers to ensure social distancing. We also urge the government to encourage wholesale trade instead of retail sales in order to reduce people movement.”