State government to encourage tuna fishing

Maharashtra is all set to encourage fishermen in the state, to trawl the famous Tuna fish that makes up for nine per cent of the fish trade in the world.

Maharashtra is all set to encourage fishermen in the state, to trawl the famous Tuna fish that makes up for nine per cent of the fish trade in the world.

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A government resolution (GR), will soon be started, that will help provide better boats, equipment for fishing, further storage and processing.

“At present our fishermen only venture about 50 miles into the water and our national limit is 200 miles. It is only when they go deeper into the sea that they will find fish like Tuna which have an international demand,” explained Minister of State for Fisheries, Bhaskar Jadhav.

He added that the state government has identified the coastal district of Ratnagiri for conducting a pilot project for fishing the tuna.

The reason why fishermen are not currently into Tuna fishing, is that their boats are only twenty metres long and not strong enough to go deep into the sea, where the waters are choppy and tides are dangerous.

At present the central government fisheries department provides funds for promoting such activities, the benefits of which have been exploited by coastal states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Lakshadweep.

“We will help fishermen get these funds and simultaneously provide incentives to convert their present boats into steel ones,” added Jadhav. “Also those below the ‘poverty line’ will be given Rs three lakh, loan and 1.5 lakh, as a grant.”