Prakasam fishermen to adopt uniform practice of fishing

Ongole: To reduce unwanted conflicts at village level, the fishermen in the Prakasam district decided to organise a community meeting on July 25 to stipulate uniform methods of fishing. The community leaders from various fishermen villages participated in an awareness programme organised by the fisheries department here on Thursday and agreed the need of responsible fishing for continuous employment in future.

For the past few days, the fishermen in various places along the coastal line in the stare are involving in conflicts with fishermen from other villages. After the government lifted the ban on fishing, a few fishermen brought mesh like eye-size fishing nets and using them on small boats to troll in the sea.

This kind of trolling with the mesh net is also collecting juvenile fish from the waters, along with big fish. It is learnt that the fishermen unwantedly killing big juvenile fish to catch small fish and are ruining the chances of the small fish grow and provide employment to them in the future. The fishermen, who are using those mesh nets, are quarrelling with others from the same or other villages and tension is growing between them for some time.

To address the issue at the root level, the fisheries department and the elders of the fishermen community organised an awareness programme. In the awareness programme on ‘Responsible fishing methods for sustainable fishery’ organised in the local IMA Hall, the joint director of the fisheries department, M Balaram explained the flaws that a few fishermen are incorporating in fishing and successfully made them understand how they are damaging the fishing cycle.

Balaram said that it is a good achievement for the fishermen community in the Prakasam district for coming forward voluntarily to introduce uniform practices of fishing methods through their unions. He said that the fishermen community in the district is organising a meeting on July 25 to stipulate certain methods for fishing and order all to adhere to them. The joint director appreciated the local community leaders for taking the first step in the state and will make the community leaders in other districts to follow the same.