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The Tamil Nadu
Fisheries Department plans to develop an additional 5,000
hectares of coastal saline land in five years at the rate of
1000 ha a year under the recently-announced `Fisheries
Development Mission'. It is estimated that by the end of the
programme, there will be an additional yield of 5000 tonnes of
shrimp worth about Rs 150 crore.
The mission programme, announced
in the state budget for 2002-03, is `` to give fillip to the
production of inland and marine fisheries for increased domestic
consumption and export in an environment-friendly manner''.
The declared objective of the
mission is to manage, protect, enhance and develop fisheries and
aquaculture in the interest of the economy and general
well-being of the state, consistent with the sustainability
principles, and to provide economic, environment, livelihood,
nutritional and social benefits to the society.
In the budget it was said that
the objective of the mission is to increase employment potential
in the fisheries sector and enhance returns to the fishing
community.
The mission programmes are
divided into seven major areas and envisage an investment of Rs
12.21 crore in the first year and Rs 61.07 crore in five years.
The money for this is to come from the state and Central
governments and other agencies related to fisheries.
Development of coastal
aquaculture is an important part of the mission programme with
investment plans of Rs 5 crore annually for five years. The
money is expected to come from the Marine Products Export
Development Authority (MPEDA) and the state government.
Tamil Nadu has about 56 000 ha of
potential area for coastal aquaculture. About 4,450 ha has been
developed for shrimp farming and about 2900 ha is in actual use.
``The mission expects that the remaining area has immense
potential for productive utilisation and for providing
employment and livelihood opportunities for the poor coastal
fisherfolk and unemployed youth.''
``Under the mission it is
proposed to develop 1000 ha of coastal saline land every year
for aquaculture utilising low and intensive traditional and
improved traditional shrimp farming practices. Besides
allocation of small holding to individuals, co-operative farming
will also be introduced''.
With funding from the state
government and the Union ministry of agriculture, the mission
programme plans to improve the coastal marine fisheries stock
through ranching of important fin and shell fish species and
setting up of artificial reefs along the state's coastline.
The mission envisages to
sea-ranch about 100 million post larvae every year. It is to be
implemented by the department of fisheries in association with
the hatchery operators and fishermen co-operatives from select
centres on the coastline. The cost for this is estimated to be
Rs 1.5 crore a year and Rs 7.5 crore for five years.
In the inland fisheries programme,
reservoir fisheries is considered to be very important and the
mission is suggesting an integrated approach, with private
sector participation, to it. According to an FAO survey the
state has a total of 69 reservoirs having an area of 27,534
hectares under the different categories of small, medium and
large. Fish production in these reservoirs are very low and the
``mission aims at optimising fish yield in selected reservoirs
through regular stocking of fish seed, adjustment in fishing
effort, observance of conservation measures and gear
selectivity''. It also plans to provide adequate gear and craft
to the fishermen, organisation of co-operatives, appropriate
size and quantities of stocking material, provision of landing
sites with transportation and marketing channel.
The total cost of the programme
in the first year is Rs 1.5 crore and for five years Rs 7.5
crore to be sourced from the National Co-operative Development
Corporation. The mission also aims at popularising integrated
fish farming in tanks and ponds spending Rs 15 lakh a year for
five years.
The mission programme includes
post harvest support and marketing through development of
harbours, fish landing centres and retail marketing
infrastructure with the financial support of the National Bank
for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), and other
agencies.
Sea safety measures and
strengthening of the research and development facilities are the
other two important programmes under the mission. |
