FISHING IN TAMILNADU

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FISHING IN TAMILNADU

Fishery resources of Tamil Nadu are categorised as Marine, Inland and Brackish water.

Marine Fisheries

Tamil Nadu has 1.9 lakh sq. km of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and a continental shelf of 41,412 sq.km. The marine fisher population in Tamil Nadu is 9.43 lakh, living in 608 fishing villages in the 13 coastal districts. The inshore waters of 1,016 km length of the coast on the eastern side and 60 km FISHING IN TAMILNADUlength of the coast on the western side are overexploited, whereas the offshore and deep sea resources are yet to be exploited to its optimum levels. The marine fish production of the State presently is estimated as 4.57 lakh tones against the estimated potential of 7 lakh tones.

Inland Fisheries

Tamil Nadu is endowed with 3.83 lakh ha. of effective water spread area in which 69% of the water spread comprises of long seasonal / short seasonal irrigation water resources. Tamil Nadu being a water starved State, has water in most of these water bodies for a short period of 4-5 months only. The inland fisher population is about 2.27 lakh. Inland fisheries has gained popularity and emerged as an important source of livelihood for fisherfolk / fish farmers in Tamil Nadu. The inland fishery resources of our State comprises of reservoirs, major irrigation and long seasonal tanks, short seasonal tanks and ponds which are amenable to both capture and culture fisheries. About 5,000 ha of ponds and tanks are being utilised for fresh water aquaculture under the programme of District Fish Farmers Development Agency (DFFDA). Under the Intensive inland fish culture and marketing scheme, about 24,600 ha of ponds and tanks are utilised for inland fish culture. The short water retention period in ponds and tanks due to erratic and scanty rain fall necessitates promoting and stocking of fast growing, short seasonal fish species such as Amur Carp, Genetically Improved and Farmed Tilapia (GIFT), Jayanthi Rohu, Pangasius sp., etc.

The Inland fisheries sector of the State has the potential to contribute 4.50 lakh tonnes of fish production in times of normal rainfall, for which 70 crore fingerlings are required. The Government through various schemes such as NADP, NMPS, IAMWARM, WGDP, NABARD, etc., has improved the Government fish farm facilities as well as encouraged the private farmers to create fish seed rearing farms. An additional rearing area of 40 ha has been created both in Government and private sector which lead to an all time highest fish seed production of 45 crore during 2014-15, thereby reducing the fish seed gap from 46 to 25 crore.

Brackish water Fisheries

In Tamil Nadu, the total extent of brackish water spread is estimated as 56,000 ha which is used for capture fisheries. Apart from that, about 7,100 ha area is under coastal aquaculture production mainly comprising of shrimp. In Tamil Nadu, shrimp farming has grown considerably and has emerged as a major commercial enterprise owing to the introduction of Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) Shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. So far, 1,694 shrimp farms have been registered under the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) Act, 2005.

ADMINISTRATIVE SET UP

The Commissioner of Fisheries is the Head of the Department, the Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation Limited, (TNFDC Ltd.,) a Public sector undertaking of the Tamil Nadu Government, the Functional Registrar of all Fishermen Cooperative Societies including Tamil Nadu State Apex Fisheries Cooperative Federation (TAFCOFED) and also the Member Secretary of Tamil Nadu Fishermen Welfare Board (TNFWB).

The budgetary allocation for the fisheries sector has increased manifold due to expansion of activities. This has necessitated the re- organisation of the fisheries department during 2012-13, so as to ensure effective and efficient service delivery system. Accordingly, two posts in the cadre of Joint Director of Fisheries in the head office have been upgraded to the level of Additional Director of Fisheries. Further, the State is divided into 10 regions, out of which 3 regions are headed by Joint Directors of Fisheries (Chennai, Nagapattinam and Thoothukudi) and 7 regions are headed by Deputy Directors of Fisheries (Cuddalore, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Nagercoil, Dharmapuri and Bhavanisagar) who monitor and supervise the activities of 49 Assistant Directors of Fisheries and implement various developmental and fishermen welfare schemes. Further, during 2013-14, the Engineering wing headed by the Chief Engineer has also been re-organised with four divisions at Chennai, Nagapattinam, Thoothukudi and Nagercoil to monitor the engineering works that are being carried out by the 14 sub-divisions.

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