The fishing ban ended at midnight on Monday, but only a little more than 30% of deep-sea vessels in the city are expected to put out to sea from Tuesday as a majority of the boats are yet to be repaired, a senior fisheries department official said. Of the nearly 1,200 deepsea fishing vessels attached to the Kasimedu fishing harbour, about 350 are expected to venture into the sea from Tuesday. “It will take another fortnight for the majority of the vessels to become operational,” he said.
A Ragupathy, a boat owner in Kasimedu, said with no fishing activities for almost six months in 2020 and a large part of this year, most fishermen didn’t have money to take up repairs and the boats are expected to stay moored to the fishing harbour for some time more. The lockdown from April had forced many of the boathands and pilots, most of whom were from either Andhra Pradesh or Odisha, to go home and only after could the operation of deep sea trawlers begin, he said.
Currently, the department has allowed only the wholesale fish trade at Kasimedu as part of the effort to avoid the spread of coronavirus. Now, with the lifting of the fishing ban, the government is expected to make an announcement regarding the retail sale at Kasimedu on which 70% of the city’s fish-eating population depends for fish and other marine life, said the official.
A trader at the Chintadripet fish market, one of the largest in the city, said the arrival of fish was expected to become normal from the coming weekend when the deep-sea fishing boats that have put out to sea are expected to return to the shore. Besides, no one can expect the arrival of a huge catch within just a day or two of the ban ending, he said. “It will take some time for things to stabilise.”