Deep sea fishing to start from today after a gap of 61 days

August 1: The Department of Fisheries had banned fishing along the coast from June 1 to July 31. This period was considered as breeding period for fish. Trawl and purse seine boats will venture out for fishing from Thursday, August 1 after a gap of 61 days due to the ban.
District deputy director of the Fisheries Department Tippeswamy said that the Fisheries Department officials had directed the fishermen venturing into the deep sea to carry nets of minimum 19 size to prevent the younger fish from getting caught along with the older ones. This is done in order to prevent the death of juvenile fish in large numbers which will result in a decrease in fish population.
Along with this installation of AIS transponders with in-built GPS was made mandatory for fishing boats from this season for the safety of fishermen.
President of the Mangalore Trawl Boat Fishermen’s Association Nithin Kumar said that around 50 steel trawl boats will venture into the deep sea on August 1, as there is shortage of space along the estuary to line up boats in a single stretch. Each boat will be equipped with nets, ice, diesel and ration lasting a period of 10 days. An additional 850 deep sea trawlers will venture into the sea within the next fortnight. Around 1,150 trawl boats will be fishing during this season, he added.