Goa Blog

The directorate of fisheries has plans to upgrade all the five major fish landing centres in the state including Malim, Betul, Cutbona, Chapora and Vasco. While there are plans to build a new fishing jetty at Vasco, all the other jetties are to be expanded.The director of fisheries, Mr S Verenkar told ‘The Navhind Times’ that the preliminary report on the upgradation of landing facilities in Goa has already been done by the Central Institute of Coastal Engineering and Fisheries and sent to the government of India, which will bear 50 per cent of the cost. The upgradation plans include the construction of modern auction sheds to meet international standards. This is necessitated by the fact that import agencies regularly visit these landing centres to check for hygiene. The directorate has also identified new areas of infrastructure upgradation for traditional fishermen.

Mr Verenkar said the present landing jetties are fast becoming inadequate as the size of the trawlers is increasing and lesser number of these vessels are able to dock at the jetties due to their increased size. There are about 875 fishing vessels in Goa and earlier most of these were small in size measuring about 40 feet. But with trawlers needing to go to the deep seas for fishing, more and more trawlers began to increase their size in order to increase the fuel carrying capacity and to increase the fish hold. Where earlier 50 trawlers could dock, now only 20 of the bigger trawlers can dock. This has necessitated the upgradation of the landing centres, Mr Verenkar said.

The directorate of fisheries is also planning of implementing a scheme on housing for fishermen. Although the housing scheme exists, its implementation is held back due to difficulties because most of the houses of fishermen are in the coastal regulation zone where permissions for constructions are banned. Mr Verenkar said under the scheme, the fishermen will get Rs 40,000 for construction of house or 35 square metres of land. This scheme is applicable for repairs of ‘kuccha’ houses also. The directorate has already received about 25 applications from fishermen for this scheme. Mr Verenkar said the directorate will approach the Coastal Regulations Zone Management Authority on the issue of licensing in the CRZ so that fishermen can avail of the scheme and build their houses.

Mr Verenkar informed that Goa has an average annual fish yield of about 95,000 tonnr. Goa exports about 15,000 tonne of fish giving the state revenue of about Rs 60 crore annually. The fish generally exported are mackerel, ribbonfish, squid, cuttlefish, prawns, etc. to countries like the USA, Japan, China, etc.

While the department’s annual budget is Rs 14 crore, a large chunk of the budget is spent on subsidies, which add up to about Rs 11 crore. The major subsidy is on the reimbursement of value-added tax on diesel to trawler owners and it adds up to about Rs 9.6 crore. A subsidy of Rs 40,000 is given on construction of canoes, subsidy of Rs 20,000 is given on purchase of outboard motor and subsidy of Rs 8000 is given on fishing requisites. Subsidy of 90 per cent is given on supply of insulated boxes to fishermen whereas a lump sum subsidy of Rs 12,000 is given on kerosene, Mr Verenkar said.

-Navhind Times, Goa Daily