Vijayawada: One lakh fisherfolk families in Andhra Pradesh will be given a financial incentive of Rs 10,000 each under the YSR Matsyakara Bharosa in May.
The reason for this incentive is due to the situation where the fishermen are banned from fishing for 61 days starting from April 15 to June 14. The money is given to help families during this 61-day ban, as per central government’s orders. The ban on fishing is from the entire east coast of West Bengal to Tamil Nadu.
Fisheries joint director PV Satyanarayana said, “We are taking up a count of fisherfolk families who is strictly following the norm of not venturing into the sea. They will be compensated with Rs 10,000 per family. Over one lakh families are expected to get the benefit in the state.”
Andhra Pradesh has just about 1.24 lakh fishing families living all along its coast. The fisheries authorities along with Sagara Mitra will check out whether or not members of the families will fish during the period of ban.
Generally, a group of fishermen around 8 to 10 go by sea voyage for a week or 10 days for fishing. There is no permit for any sort of boat to go fishing into the sea once the ban starts.
The authorities visited the families of fishermen and asked them to avoid taking up sea voyages for fishing during the ban and took declaration from them. In case of any violation, officials will bookcases and the guilty will be given a fine of Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 depending on the degree of level. At times, the boats can also be seized.
