Centre developing lockdown relief package for fishing community

: The Centre has directed all coastal states to submit bank details of affected fishers, fish farmers, and vendors during the COVID-19 lockdown to develop a relief

: The Centre has directed all coastal states to submit bank details of affected fishers, fish farmers, and vendors during the COVID-19 lockdown to develop a relief package.

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The Maharashtra fisheries department said the list of affected fisher folk and allied activities had already been sent to the Centre, and now their bank details were being collated. The move comes after reports of over 10,000 tonnes of fresh fish catch being dumped at sea and over Rs. 300 crore losses recorded so far by the community in Maharashtra.

“The Centre is putting together a lockdown relief package for affected persons in the fishing community. On one hand the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has directed the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute to submit details of estimated loss of fish catch during the lockdown while we are collating the bank details to provide immediate relief to the affected community,” said Rajendra Jadhav, joint commissioner (fisheries).