Govt agrees to extend fishing ban period by 15 days

The ban period is being observed every year from April 15 to May 31, and will now extend till June 14

The Union government has agreed to extend the fishing ban period in the Bay of Bengal by another 15 days from the current year. Currently, the ban period is being observed every year from April 15 to May 31. Now, this has been extended till June 14.

Stating this, YGK Murthy, president, Association of Indian Fishery Industry, said the fishing associations of East Coast states had been asking for extension of conservation period from the last several years, and accordingly the government had agreed to their demand from the current year.

"A high-level conservation management committee on sustainability of marine resources recently recommended for extending the ban period for another 15 days in the Bay of Bengal. The central government has accepted our recommendation and very shortly it would issue a GO on this," Murthy, who is also a member of this committee, told Business Standard.

The extension will help fishing boats get good catches, he added. However, this year trawlers and mechanised boat owners, operating from the Visakhapatnam fishing harbour, had witnessed a very bad period, especially after the Hudhud cyclone, he said.

Due to lack of catches, turnover at the Vizag fishing harbour has dropped from Rs 4-5 crore a day to Rs 1.5-2 crore a day this year. Shrimp prices too had dropped by Rs 100 per kg, he added. Post cyclone, catches had reduced drastically besides 450 damaged boats did not venture for fishing resulting in lower turnover, he said.

Recently, the state government had released Rs 3 lakh each for 42 fully damaged mechanised boats and Rs 50,000 each to the 400 partially damaged boats as Hudhud compensation.