Thanks to the newly elected government in Tamil Nadu, in India’s southern coast, fishermen breathe a sigh of relief. The harbour which was built in the early seventies has largely laid unattended. Fishermen all over India belong to the backward community which often are neglected even in the populist welfare measures. Fishing happens to be the least regulated and undermined industry in India earning billions in foreign exchange despite neglect. Seaports and fishing harbours all over India needs overhauling, capacity expansion, channel deepening, etc.
The DMK led government in Tamil Nadu has taken up the dredging of seabed at Thoothukudi fishing harbour after 15 years. The Government has allocated funds to study the expansion of the harbour too.
The Project is said to benefit 9,000 fishermen families of the city. The fishermen were finding it difficult to take their catch from the boats that return to the harbour last mostly due to lack of adequate space for all the 250 trawler boats which are berthed one after another in a chain and the catch has to be carried in baskets manually from one boat to another to take them to the landing centre. The wharf of the harbour, commissioned in 1973, could handle the berthing of only 120 fishing boats while 250 boats were using the harbour.
The dredging work is expected to be completed by May 2022 before the annual trawler fishing ban period begins.
