Govt to help fishermen during lean months

MANGLORE: Are we over exploitative of our fisheries resources? Tarun Shridhar, joint secretary, ministry of agriculture, New Delhi, thinks otherwise. “Food and Agriculture Organization statistics indicate that India has an estimated 3.9 million tonnes of potential catch in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), of which we are only catching three million tones per annum.We have formed a committee of scientists to revalidate the exact potential,’’ he said.
Talking on the sidelines of the Eighth International Symposium on ‘Diseases in Asian Aquaculture’, Shridhar admitted there may be pressure on some areas of the coast as fishermen fish in the coastal waters rather than in the 200 nautical mile of India’s EEZ, starting from 12 nautical miles onwards, because they are not empowered financially and technologically. “Our economic sovereignty extends up to 200 nautical miles. We need to strengthen and empower fishers to use the EEZ. In fact we should go beyond 200 nautical miles into high seas, but this requires huge capital investment,’’ he noted.
He said the ministry is trying to help fishermen and one of the schemes were ‘saving-cum-relief’, which would entail a fishermen Rs 600 per month during fish-ban months. “We encourage fishermen to save during the fishing season which runs for nine months. The state and Centre contribute equally and give Rs 600 to fishermen to lend some support during the lean months,’’ he said.