Many feel that the fishing industry is suffering under the Ministry of Agriculture, reports TheHindu.
A FIFI delegation met Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj to seek her support for carving out a separate ministry and to put pressure on the government to concede their demands.
The FIFI delegation also sought extension of the fishing conservation period to ensure better catch and supply of duty-free diesel to all the fishing boats by de-linking it from the condition that it would be given to only fishermen having BPL cards.
regarding the extension of the fisheries ban from 47 to 62 days, the delegation called for uniformly for both the east and west coasts.
“The fish catches have drastically come down in both the coasts. The catches of some of the species are drastically affected, due to pollution, excess fishing and increased fishing effort and destruction of the critical habitat by the destructive fishing methods such as bottom trawling,” Dr Murthi told the newspaper.
He also asked the government to call for a joint meeting of all the stakeholders from the nine maritime States and four Union Territories along with their respective commissioners of fisheries and also the Coast Guard, before arriving at a final decision, on the extension of the fishing ban period.
