Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Apr 4: Fishermen of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district have suffered huge setback due to the present ongoing lockdown that is announced by the union government and enforced by the Karnataka state government. Yashpal Survarna, president of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district cooperative fish marketing federation has urged the administration to provide maximum compensation to the fishing fraternity.

The fishing community was hit hard last year during the fishing season due to continuous spells of cyclones. The catch of fish was also meagre compared to the previous years. Now, the coronavirus lock down has devastated the life of fishermen of twin districts.

Deep sea fishing is totally banned from March 20 due to the lock down. This has affected 282 purse seine boats, 9,652 mechanized traditional boats, 9,254 traditional boats and 4,350 trawl boats that carry out fishing in the three districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada. Nearly one lac fishermen and other personnel are depending on fishing for their livelihood.

Yashpal Suvarna said that in addition to these woes of fishermen, ban of fishing in the months of June, July and August to allow breeding of fish will further burden the community. One lac people are directly involved in fishing while nearly 80,000 are indirectly connected to the industry like tempo and auto drivers, ice plants, fish meal industries, fish processing units and fisherwomen who sell fish in markets.

The fishing federation has asked the government to provide maximum monetary compensation and the interest on loans borrowed by fishermen should be written off for at least five months to give some respite to the fishing community that is battered continuously due to various factors.