2-month fishing ban in AP from April 15

Visakhapatnam: Even as the annual fishing holiday period, also known as fishing ban, will come into effect from April 15 for two months, most of the boat operators have shut down their operations long ago due to dwindling catch not enough to meet their operational expenses.

Fisheries Commissioner A Surya Kumari said all the motorised boats have been advised not to venture into the sea during the ban period to enable increase in fish catch during the breeding season. She also underlined the need for undertaking sustainable fishing practices for getting higher yield and better returns.

Industry sources said almost 60 per cent mechanised and motorised boats have been anchored at Visakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam, Bhavanapadu, Gangavaram, Nizampatnam and Kalingapatnam since past few months due to poor catch attributed to indiscriminate deep-sea fishing and juvenile fishing and the alleged dumping of untreated sewage from the hazardous industries into the sea.

“Over the past few years, there has been a substantial drop in fish catch and the growing occurrence of fish-kill due to release of industrial wastes into the ocean,” Arjili Dasu, general secretary, National Fisherfolk Forum, told Bizz Buzz on Friday.

The State has 31,000 boats including 1,871 mechanised and over 14,000 motorised boats. The number of traditional boats across the State is estimated at over 14,000. The annual ban enforced on the East Coast is applicable to all motorised boats thereby giving an exemption to catamaran and other traditional boats.

Visakhapatnam is the largest fish landing centre and exporting centre. According to officials, Visakhapatnam Port exported marine products weighing 2.64 lakh tonnes valued at Rs 16,877 crore during 2022-23. The port accounted for a share of 26.36 per cent in the total marine product segment, according to Marine Product Export Development Authority (MPEDA), which is confident of further growth in the subsequent years. The area has 2,059 registered boats out of which 749 are mechanised and 1310 are motorised.

The ban comes in the backdrop of stringent action sought by the regulatory agencies in the United States by certain sections over finding contaminated frozen shrimp exported from India sometime ago. If action is initiated, it may adversely affect Rs 43,000-crore strong shrimp exports from India, accounting for 40 per cent of exported shrimp to America.

“We are strictly following the norms prescribed by the USFDA and there seems to be an international conspiracy to kill our share in the shrimp exported to the United States,” a senior official from a seafood export company based in Visakhapatnam, said.