Ban throws fishermen out of gear for 45 days

Pithapuram (East Godavari): Fishing boats mechanized and motor boats have confined to the sea coast with the Center prohibiting fishing in the sea from April 15 to June 30. As a result, over 3,500 large boats and about 1,000 mechanised and motorboats will remain idle confining themselves to the coast throwing the fishermen out of gear for the next 45 days. The government prohibited fishing as the period is convenient for the fish to breed and to prevent mechanized boats indulging in fishing hampering the breeding activity.
According to statistics, there are 3.6 lakh-odd fishermen in 99 villages of 13 coastal mandals in the district. Of them, source of livelihood for 67,000 is fishing alone. The annual production of marine wealth in the district is 2.64 lakh tons. Marine exports fetch Rs 9,000 crore revenue annually.
Prohibition on fishing, which is imposed during this period in the entire east coast from Kanyakumari to Kolkata, is hampering the lives of the fishermen who have been solely dependent on fishing.
The government is very keen on implementing the ban on fishing. Those who violate the ban are fined up to Rs 2,500 besides seizing the boats. The violators of the ban are also likely to attract a prison term up to one year.
However, those who undertake fishing using country boats are exempted from the ban.
To enforce the ban, coast guards comprising police, marine and naval officials will patrol the sea to apprehend the violators.
To compensate for the loss of livelihood for about 45 days, the state government has been extending Rs 2,000 a month besides 25 kg of rice to each fisherman’s family as compensation. The fishermen allege that the officials are disbursing the benefits at their will and pleasure not during the ban was in force. Their refrain was that the fishermen families get food only when one member or the other from the family ventures into sea for fishing. Going out of work for 45 days at a stretch is something they cannot afford.
They term the compensation paid by the government as wholly inadequate. They have been demanding that the fishermen should be shown suitable alternative livelihood during the ban period and the compensation should be disbursed at the time of commencement of the ban, not at the whims and fancies of the disbursing officials.