Andhra: Annual 60-day ban on fishing invoked, fishermen demand high compensation

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], Apr. 15 (ANI): The government has released orders for the annual 60-day ban on fishing by motorised and mechanised boats in entire east coast. The ban that begun on the midnight of April 14 reportedly has fishermen recounting their bitter experiences in regard with the payment of compensation they are entitled to. Nearly 900 fishermen are yet to receive compensation from last year, Satya Narayana, a representative of the Fishermen Association of Vizag alleged. He further questioned the authorities saying, "Fishermen are not allowed to venture out in the sea. On top of it, they are not getting compensation. They are not skilled to earn their living from other professions. How will they survive?" he told ANI. "We fishermen only know how to catch fish. So, we request the government to increase the compensation to 10,000 or 15,000. Then only will the fishermen be able to survive," he added. The authorities released GO-97 yesterday, directing district officials to make the arrangements necessary for strict implementation of the ban along the coast. The ban is an annual one, imposed every year to ensure a safe breeding season for marine fish. The order bans the entry of motorised and mechanised fishing boats and vessels into the Bay of Bengal between April 15 and June 14. V. Venkateswara Rao, Joint Director of Visakhapatnam Fisheries stated, "We have received the order today, but the detailed guidelines are awaited. After receiving the rules, we will form teams to enumerate the mechanised and motorised boats." The fishermen have stated that the compensation amount of Rs 6.79 crore was released last year in two phases for the 16,988 fishermen who had registered their names with the district fisheries department. But a group of fishermen reportedly alleged that "60 motorised boats belonging to fishermen from Visakhapatnam district which were anchored along the Antarvedi coast in East Godavari district were not taken into consideration during enumeration and the move resulted in big financial loss to those fishermen." (ANI)