Marine Fishing
 Fisheries,
The Economic backbone of this coastal District. Having a long coastal area, This District plays a major role in marine commodities.
The marine ecosystem provides mankind with food, medicines, industrial products and pleasure.
This ecosystem has to be maintained in a healthy state, if it is to provide people the benefits in a
sustained manner. Natural, healthy ecosystems have evolved over millions of years, resulting in
complex interactions of the environment and all the species living in them. Such interactions
allow the optimal utilization of the ecosystem resources by a maximum number of species that
includes the human beings. The waters along the Bay of Bengal coast of India are biologically
very productive and possess several unique environmental features. However, little is known on
the marine biodiversity resources along the Bay of Bengal coast near Sirkali Taluk,
Nagapattinam District (Tamilnadu State). Numerous industries, chemical factories and
aquaculture farms are also developing along this coast, which already threatens the mangrove
forests and marine life along the coast in Sirkali Taluk. It is essential to s
cientifically understand
The interactions between biodiversity and the environment in these waters, in order to conserve
and protect the ecosystems for future generations.
The Bay of Bengal coast where the proposed project site (Sirkali Taluk, Nagapattinam District),
is located in Tamilnadu State, lies in the monsoon belt and receives high rainfall. In near-shore
areas, the mixing of nutrient rich bottom waters and warm surface waters creates conditions
similar to up-welling and the number and intensity of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal are likely to
increase due to global warming. The input of freshwater and silt impacts the salinity of the
coastal and estuarine waters as well as coastal circulation patterns. Some coastal areas serving as
nursery grounds for commercially valuable species of prawns are polluted. The areas of critical
biological diversity are the mangrove rich habitat along the coast of Nagapattinam District.
Catamaran is a light watercraft and is named from the Tamil language words kaTTu 'tie' and
maram 'wood, tree': simply two trees tied together.
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The catamaran was the invention of the paravas, an aristocratic fishing community in the southern coast of Tamilnadu State, south India.
Building a catamaran is a community affair in small fishing villages and it’s a decentralized
labor-absorbing activity. This also helps distressed people be occupied in creative ways.
The traditional coastal-fishing is considered a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems
The Guidelines
Fisherfolk
here have been instructed to
carry Auto- Identification
System enabled-Gl'S devices
in fishing boats to facilitate
easy tracking and rescue in
the event of technical snags in
mid-sea. This forms part of
the slew of advisories issued
by the Department of Fisheries
in the light of the recent
attacks on fisherfolk and incidents
of missing fishermen.
Fisherfolk have been
strictly instructed not to
breach the International
Maritime Boundary Line
(IMBL) and outstation trawlers
required to seek anchor
permission from the Department
of Fisheries to drop anchor
within Nagapattinam
waters. The advisories have
also come in the wake of
northeast monsoon that
throws up incidents of boat
capsize each year. Fishing
boats have been advised to
carry a radio in order to keep
tab of monsoon advisories
and return ashore in the
event of cyclone warning.
Fishing boats should ensure
life buoys and life jackets,
along with emergency
gadgets such as cell phones,
battery lights, whistles and
1 white cloth for signalling SOS
s before venturing into the sea.
Trawlers are mandated to
fly the tri-colour, and should
host in bold black letters the
registration numbers of the
trawlers. Further, the trawler
should host fluorescent orange
paint allotted for the
district on either side, up to a
height of 1to 1.5feet. Fishermen
are mandated to carry
along identity cards.
All fibre-reinforced boats
and country boats shall be duly
registered by the Department
of Fisheries, and the
registration certificates carried
along while fishing. Additionally'
all boats bought
outside the district shall be
produced before the Department
for due process of registration
before being put to
fishing.
Suspicious objects found
on sea, or suspicious boats
and persons found within the
territorial waters shall be immediately
communicated to
the police and the Department
of Fisheries. Fishermen
are forbidden from taking
along women and children into
the sea.
An advisory forbidding
fishermen from venturing into
search operations unilaterally
on the lookout for
missing boats in times of bad
weather has also beeeen issued.
Fishermen have been
told to engage the coastal police
and Department of Fisheries
in search operations
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