Kendrapara: The state government has decided to start a fiscal incentive scheme to compensate the loss of livelihood of fishermen due to periodic prohibition on marine fishing.
Sea-going fishermen suffer badly following ban on fishing activities during Olive Ridley sea turtles’ nesting season and breeding period of sea fish.
Fishing activities come to a grinding halt from November 1 to June 15 as the ban remains in force to protect turtles and breeding fish. While a seven-month ban is clamped in Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary from November 1, a two-month prohibition on marine fishing is enforced every year from April 15 throughout the 480 KM long sea coast.
A total of 2,000 marine fishermen from Kendrapara, Ganjam and Puri districts who are affected due to the fishing ban are to be brought under fiscal incentives from 2016-17 fiscal, deputy director, marine fisheries, Basant Kumar Das said. They are virtually rendered jobless for most part of the year due to the ban. In a bid to economically uplift them, the affected fishermen will be disbursed an amount of `5,000 each per annum, he said.
The sole objective is to provide financial assistance to poor marine fishermen and fish workers adversely affected due to the ban on account of sea turtle protection and marine fisheries resources conservation, Das said.
A new state plan scheme ‘Livelihood Support to Marine Fishermen during Fishing Ban Periods’ would be operational from the current financial year to strengthen the livelihood support of fishermen, said officials.
“We are happy as the government has decided to extend monetary aid. But `5,000 per annum is too meagre to make up for the losses. The sum needs to be revised. We lose almost two-third of the fishing season each year. People sustaining on sea-fishing have switched over to other income sources,” said a marine fisherman from Paradip, Radhakant Maiti.
Keeping in view the dipping income sources of the affected fishermen, the state government had earlier launched Rice for Olive Ridley Conservation (RORC) programme.
The beneficiary families are being provided 25 KG rice every month at Re 1 a KG, said officials. A total of 8,068 marine fishermen families from the seaside villages of
Kendrapara, Ganjam and Puri are being covered under RORC social security scheme, said additional fisheries officer, Paradip, Bharat Bhusan Sahoo.
Every year, the state government clamps a seven-month ban on sea-fishing in a 20 KM radius sea territory stretching from Dhamra to Devi river mouth.
In accordance with the Orissa Marine Fisheries Regulatory Act, 1983, the prohibitory orders on sea fishing remain effective from November 1 to May 31. The legal embargo on fishing remains in force to ensure the safety of breeding turtles which perish in large numbers either by getting entangled in mono-filament fishing nets or by getting hit by propellers of trawls. PNN