The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Government of India, and National Fisheries Development Board along with the Department of Fisheries, Government of Kerala, Government of Puducherry (Union Territory), Indian Coast Guard and fishermen representatives is observing the Sagar Parikrama Phase VII which started from 8th June 2023 from Madakkara, Kerala, and covered Pallikkara, Bekal, Kanhangadu, Kasaragode and has reached at Mahe (Puducherry) on 9th June 2023 and will be proceeding towards entire coastal regions of Kerala through Kozhikode and Thrissur.
The second day program of Sagar Parikrama, Phase VII commenced by Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Dr L. Murugan, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri K Lakshminarayanan, Minister of Fisheries, Government of Puducherry in the presence of Dr. Suvarna Chandrapparagari, Chief Executive, National Fisheries Development Board, Shri Thiru. D. Balaji, Director of Fisheries, Government of Puducherry, Shri Shivraj Meena, Administrator, Government of Puducherry, and other public Authorities who visited Mahe (Puducherry) and graced the occasion. A welcome address was given by Shri K Lakshminarayanan, Minister of Fisheries, and thanked Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Dr L. Murugan and other dignitaries for driving Sagar Parikrama Yatra at Mahe, Puducherry. He further emphasized on the initiatives for fisherfolk taken by Government of Puducherry.
Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying with other dignitaries interacted with beneficiaries such as fishermen, fisherwomen, fish farmers etc. at Mahe, Puducherry. This interactive session helped fishermen to come out with their issues faced by them which will help in addressing for improvement on fisheries development. Further, beneficiaries have requested for more events like Sagar Parikrama in coming time. Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying discussed that he has joined Sagar Parikrama to understand the profession, life, culture, current state of respected fishermen which will help him in preparing the policy and thanked everyone for providing the valuable time.
Taking forward, Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Dr. L. Murugan, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, and other dignitaries visited Beypore Fishing Harbour. Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, and other dignitaries interacted with beneficiaries, fish farmers, fishermen present at Beypore Fishing Harbour. He was very pleased that an interactive session helped fishermen, fish farmers to share their ground realities, experiences and to come out with their issues being faced. He thanked fishermen, fish farmers, beneficiaries, coast guard officers for sharing their suggestion for enhancing fisheries sector development and mentioned that Sagar Parikrama shall remain continued covering coastal areas starting from Gujarat to West Bengal.
Further, Sagar Parikrama programs continued at Samudra Auditorium and Union Minister for Fisheries, AH and Dairying thanked fishermen, fisherwomen, fish farmers and other stakeholders who have graciously joined in interaction program. It was informed about the fish harbour, fish landing centre, biofloc units, ornamental fish units which has been sanctioned under PMMSY in the district and emphasis on the welfare of fishermen are important considerations to maintain the balance of marine resources and support the livelihoods of those involved in the fisheries sector.
Dr L. Murugan, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying addressed regarding the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojna (PMMSY) scheme and other multidimensional activities of blue revolution with major focus on increasing fisheries production and productivity (for both inland and marine) and its associated activities, including infra development, marketing, exports, and institutional arrangements, etc. He deliberated on the promotion of KCC and enthusiastically added that camps have been conducted at Coastal districts of Kerala, where the fishers and fish farmers were made aware about KCC registration & its benefits.
Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying informed that Since 1950 to 2014, the investment in fisheries sector was of around Rs 3,680 Cr, starting from 2014 government introduces the single large scheme PMMSY with budget of Rs. 20,500 Cr, FIDF with budget of around Rs. 8,000 Cr, totally approx. Rs. 32,000 Cr. of investment has been made for the development of fisheries sector by understanding the ground realities. He paid special emphasis on creating awareness among fish farmers for promotion of KCC.
During the event, certificates/sanctions related to Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada scheme, Kisan Credit Card (KCC) & State Scheme, Brackish Water Cage Culture has been awarded to the progressive fishermen, especially coastal fishermen, fishers and fish farmers, young fisheries entrepreneurs, women fish farmers etc. The following beneficiaries are i) Raghvan, ii) Shivaji, iii) Narayanan, iv) Ranjith, v) Sushalal, vi) Rajeesh, vii) Biju, viii) Savithri, ix) Deepa D, x) Sathyan, xi) Kunhiraman, xii) Usha, xiii) Unni, xiv) Shijina, xv) Sajeendran, xvi) Vinod. Also, certificates/sanctions related to two-wheeler, three-wheeler & ice box were distributed to the beneficiaries such as i) Abdul Nizar, ii) Mohammed Althaf, iii) Abdul Muneer, iv) Jamseer P.K, v) Koya C.V, vi) Parambath, vii) Sidiq K, viii) Majeed J.P, ix) Sahad K, x) Subod, xi) Deepesh, xii) Noufal, xiii) Kamharudin, xiv) Udayan MP, xv) Muhammed Koya.
Smt. Sreelu N.S, Additional Director, Department of Fisheries, Government of Kerala, gave vote of thanks to all dignitaries and other participants for their presence. In all around approx. 4,000 fishermen, various fisheries stakeholders, scholars attended physically the Sagar Parikrama Phase VII program from different places of which approx. 2500 fisherwomen participated, and the program were live streamed on various social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.
The second day program of Sagar Parikrama, Phase-VII was great success. Therefore, the influence of this Sagar Parikrama on the livelihood, holistic development of fishermen and fisher folk, sustainable development, marketing development for fisheries, would be multifarious and this historic event of parikrama will go a long way in bringing holistic development of all the fishermen population.
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