The Marine Fishery Department will impose a ban on fishing activities along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the State, including Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur for 61-days from April 14 to facilitate fish breeding, said Fishery (Marine) Department, Kujang Assistant Director Biraja Prasanna Mohapatra.
The ban is imposed every year during this period and the Marine Fishery Department appeals to the fishermen not to venture into sea with mechanized vessels and trawlers as it affects the breeding process, informed Mohapatra. This ban coincides with the spawning season for fish, during which they release their eggs. As trawlers use fishing nets with small gaps, eggs and young ones get caught in the nets leading to depletion of fish production.
The ban would hit 632 trawlers, including 558 registered mechanised trawlers of Jagatsinghpur, which would remain idle. However, catamarans and manual fishing boats have been exempted from the ban. The nets used by the fishermen in catamarans are different from those used by the trawlers. The nets of catamarans have big gaps and the young fish and eggs do not get caught. The department has also asked the authorities of Industries, which are set up near the Port town of
Paradip, not to discharge effluents into the water bodies that are connected with the sea, as it has an adverse impact on fish breeding and spawning, said official sources.
As the fishing ban is on the cards, price of sea-food in the State is expected to go up. The ban will reduce the fish catch to the level of kgs from tonnes. Several shops in the city, including the fish market at Paradip and Kendrapada, have started hiking the price of sea fish as only a week remains for the ban. Prices of popular sea fish varieties such as prawn, pomfret, khanga, bhekti, kani, ribbon fish, bombi, kokali and other varieties will go stiff during the ban period.