John Wilbert & Rabindranath
Port Blair, Oct 23: Local fish businessmen have been waiting for an NOC from the Dept. of Fisheries, A & N Administration since last one year for transporting their new boat from mainland Kanyakumari and Rameshwaram to the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
As per information, around 40 boats of long line/ gillnet fishing boat owners applied for NOC last year to transport their boat to Port Blair for fishing business.
Talking with Andaman Sheekha, one boat owner said that he applied
for NOC in the month of May 2022 but till now he hasn’t got the NOC from the Fisheries Department. His boat is in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu and he is facing huge financial loss in taking care of the boats at Rameshwaram due to engagement of manpower. Each boat is having more than 07 crew members taking care of the boat day and night. There are other maintenance charges, besides the safety of boats, he said. The boat owners purchased long line/ gillnet fishing boats not trawling type/trawler as they know that Andaman administration banned trawling type/ trawler boats.
These local fish businessmen visited the Fisheries Department several times and produced the number of request letters for permission to transport their boats to these islands from the mainland. Now they have come to know that the Fisheries department had approached CMFRI- Kerala in September 2022 for its experts’ opinion which would assist the Fisheries Department Andaman administration to prepare policy guidelines. for Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Now, if they wait to get permission, till the policy is made and when CMFRI will respond to the letter is not known but by the time their boats will be completely damaged and which will lead to huge financial loss, they bemoaned.
The boat owner further said that he sincerely requested the Andaman Administration to kindly issue permission for bringing the boats from mainland Kanyakumari and Rameshwaram.
Andaman Sheekha contacted Mr. G Sudhakar, IAS, Secretary Fisheries Department said that some of local fishermen community opposed this proposal and said if these boats are brought from mainland and permitted to operate in the Andamans, their interest would be hurt in terms of job security as most of the fishing boat crews in these boats are from mainland.
Under the given situation, the Fisheries Department is working out an amicable solution to this crisis. Talking on the NOC the top Official said that, before purchasing a boat, the boat owners should first apply for NOC to the Fisheries Department to avoid this type of problem.
Dr. Gopal, Joint Director Fisheries Department said that nearly 40 boat owners have applied for NOC, and in the last two months the Dept. has issued 13 NOCs with a time period of 45 days to boat owners who applied first. However, only one boat reached before 45 days, and because of some reasons other boat owners couldn’t not bring the boats within this 45 days’ time period and as a result, their NOC expired. Remaining 12 Boat buyers applied for renewal and requested for extension of NOC.
And a few months ago some of the fishermen also opposed mainland businessmen to do business in Andaman on fear of fish demand if fish catching increases in the Andaman Sea. And under the given situation, local fishermen will not get much fish for business.
And to clear the fishermen about fish availability in Andaman sea, the Fisheries Department and Andaman Administration consulted with Kerala: Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute for experts’ opinion and based on catch data reports experts are preparing reports and the Department is in constant touch with CMFRI-Kerala for reports. The Official is hopeful of getting the report within 10 days and once the report comes, the problem will be solved in a month, he further affirmed.
