The Mettur Dam Fishermen Cooperative Marketing Society has closed down seven fish procurement centres run by it in Mettur and surrounding areas due to poor catch of fishes following poor storage level in the Mettur Dam. The Society accounts for more than 2,000 fishermen of Mettur Dam, Pannavadi, Keerakaranur, Kottaiyur and other nearby hamlets as members and they are authorised with licence to fish in the dam’s water spread area. Fish varieties such rogu’, katla’, aruvi’, jilabi’ and karimeen’ that breed in the dam ensure attractive returns to fishermen, when the dam has good storage of water. The Fisheries Department regularly released fish fingerlings reared in the fishling rearing farm in Mettur to help the fishermen with good catch during the season. The Society is running 11 procurement centres in Mettur Dam site and other surrounding areas. It procures the fishes from the members of the society and transport the same through its vehicles for marketing. Due to the poor storage level in the Mettur Dam following repeated failure of monsoon, many members have opted for other jobs. The remaining fishermen are living in total poverty due to poor catch. According to Sinnapillai, president of the Mettur Dam Fishermen Cooperative Marketing Society, seven fish procurement centres functioning in Koonandiyur, Koothur, Nagamarai, Palar, Sekkalipatti, Kottaiyur and Pannavadi have been closed down recently due to poor arrivals. The procurement centres normally received more than 1,000 kg of fish every day. Now, they are not even getting 500 kg per day. Due to this, the Society closed down the seven centres. However, according to Sinnapillai, the procurement centres at Masilapalayam, Keeraikaranur, Puduvelamangam, and Thippampatti continue to function as usual. The closed centres would be re-opened once there was increase in the realisation of water in River Cauvery at Mettur leading to rise in the storage level in the Stanley Reservoir, Mr. Sinnapillai said.