In the Fisheries sector, the Government of Kerala aims to enhance the fish availability to the masses by giving extreme thrust to sustainable development of marine capture fisheries, development of inland aquaculture, deep sea fishing and by reduction of wastage of fishes under Re-build Kerala Initiative (RKI).
InN fisheries sector alone, the loss was estimated to be Rs.17478 lakhs. It included loss to the tune of 13776 lakhs to inland aquaculture sector. Government farms and hatcheries sustained a loss of Rs.1898 lakhs. Livelihood of fisher folk to the tune of Rs.258 lakhs was also lost. Micro enterprises belonging to fisherwomen sustained a loss to the tune of 74 lakhs. The fishermen houses were also damaged and the loss was assessed to be of Rs.1472 lakhs. of which, an amount of Rs.22.56 lakhs has been distributed to 235 fishermen whose crafts have been destroyed fully. Rs.41.08 lakhs has been given as compensation for 1002 fishing crafts which suffered partial loss. Further, an amount of 45.44 lakhs have been disbursed to 1748 fishermen who lost their fishing nets completely and Rs.34.02 lakhs to 1620 fishermen whose nets were partially damaged. Similarly an amount of Rs 1021 lakhs have been distributed to inland fish farmers also. In accordance with the SDRF norms , compensation amount of Rs.1164 lakhs has been disbursed to the fish farmers and fishermen for the loss sustained to them. out Government accorded sanction for a rehabilitation package for inland aquaculture which envisages to provide financial assistance to the tune of Rs 4000 lakhs to the aqua farmers for restarting their farming activities. Utilising fund from the budget allocation for 2018-2019 the projects have already been started implementation. Similarly an amount of Rs.39.16 lakhs has been anctioned to provide assistance to fisherwomen groups who suffered losses during the flood.
REBUILDING THE FISHERIES SECTOR
In the context of the flood a proposal for Rs. 108660 lakhs have already been submitted to the Central Government for rejuvenat- ing the sector. These included
Rs.60000 lakhs for rehabilitation of fishermen, Rs.9991 lakhs for distribution of fishing inputs, Rs.10280 lakhs for livelihood, 3898 lakhs for renovation of fish markets, 2005 lakhs for fish landing centres, 400 lakhs for artificial reefs, 1593 lakhs for ornamental fisheries. However, the Union Government gave sanction for none, till date.
The Re-build Kerala Initiative was started in November, 2018 with the aim of giving shape to a resilient Kerala. In Fisheries sector, the Government of Kerala aim to enhance the fish availability to the masses by giving extreme thrust to sustainable development of marine capture fisheries, development of inland aquaculture, deep sea fishing and by reduction of wastage of fishes under Rebuild Kerala Initiative (RKI). RKI has identified 52 broad areas in the field of fisheries with long term, midterm and short term objectives. Among others, these include proposals principally for rehabilitation of fishermen to safer places, protection of sea shores, development of inland aquaculture, deep sea fishing, renovation of fish markets, marine cage farming, reservoir fisheries, ornamental fisheries, setting up of one stop aqua shops, artificial reefs, e- marketing of fishes, dredging at fishing harbours and landing centres etc. Detailed project reports for some of the projects have already been made. Under the RKI, an amount of Rs.1398 crores have been allocated for comprehensive rehabilitation of fishermen families who live within 50 meters distance from HTL of 590 km long Kerala coast. Around 18,865 fishermen families will be rehabilitated beyond 200 meters of distance from sea coast, for which each
family will get Rs.10 lakhs for purchasing 2-3 cents of land and building house of their own there. A sum of Rs.3.2 crores have also been allotted for cage fish culture in the reservoirs of Kerala under RKI. The fisheries sector of the State will be revamped in a way to meet any future challenges within next three years.
