Centre discusses draft policy on marine fisheries with states

The Centre today discussed draft national policy on marine fisheries with coastal states including Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The draft policy outlines opportunities for sustainable fish production for the next ten years.
In the meeting, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that the draft policy will help in addressing the current imbalances in the marine fishery sector and ensure sustainable fish production besides providing economic and social upliftment to lakhs of fishmen.
The government is already making efforts to train traditional fishermen in deep sea fishing, he said, emphasising
that that both the Centre and coastal states should work together on the proposed new policy, he said in a statement.

In the draft policy, the Centre has proposed to do away with 'letter of permission' regime for allowing deep sea fishing. Instead, the government will train and skill development of traditional fishermen in deep sea fishing. A new
programme may be initiated to promote this aspect.
The government will chalk out a road map for next ten years and ways to generate funds to implement the proposed policy.