The slew of fishing harbour projects under various stages of construction in Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts are expected to pave way for hundreds of mechanised fishing boats to undertake deep sea fishing. Since mechanised fishing boats have caused depletion of precious marine fishery resources, the harbour projects envisage an end to bottom trawling. The harbours will have the requisite infrastructure facilities to handle tuna and deep sea catches, officials said. A fishing harbour at Poompuhar in Mayiladuthurai district that was constructed at a cost of Rs. 148 crore under a Centrally sponsored scheme was put to use a year back. The fishing harbour at Tranquebar under Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) to the tune of Rs. 120 crore is designed with a northern breakwater to a length of 330 metres, nouthern breakwater up to 1,060 metres and other land side facilities for the hygienic handling of catches.
The fishing harbour at Tranquebar will fulfil the long-term aspirations of the people of Tharangambadi and coastal villages like Chinnamedu, Chinnangudi, Thazhampettai, Pudupettai, Perumalpettai, Vellakoil, Kuttiyandiyur, Chandrapadi, and Chinnoorpettai. The FIDF sanction of Rs. 100 crore was made for the fishing harbour with modern facilities at Vellapallam village in Nagapattinam district. Earlier this year, the work on construction of a fishing harbour at Arcottuthurai in Nagapattinam district at a estimated cost of Rs. 150 crore was initiated for the benefit of several hundreds of fishermen of Kameswaram, Vilunthamavadi, Vanavanmahadevi, Vellapallam, Naluvedhapathi and Pushpavanam villages. The project for construction of the mini harbour in Nambiyar Nagar was initiated last November. The residents of the coastal village have contributed Rs. 11.43 crore as their one-third share for the over Rs. 34 crore project.
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